Review of The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) by Tvjerry — 07 Jan 2022
Director Joel Coen has created his first film without his brother and he called upon his wife Frances McDormand to star along Denzel Washington. Coen shot the film in black and white in an almost square ratio, harkening back to classic versions of Shakespeare films.
Instead of broad theatrics, this version goes for a more naturalistic delivery, while still allowing for Coen’s vision. This includes grand stylized sets framed with dramatic lighting, rich costumes and flights of symbolic fancy with the witches.
Washington and McDormand play it low-key, forsaking much of the histrionic style often associated with The Bard. Even so, the consistently underplayed delivery and slow, static tone make this a beautiful, but often tiresome production focused more on style than performance.
To Coen’s credit, he did manage to trim the script down to 1:45.
This review of The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) was written by Tvjerry on 07 Jan 2022.
The Tragedy of Macbeth has generally received positive reviews.
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