Review of Titus (1999) by Alicia M — 18 Jun 2007

Unlike any other film director who has approached putting Shakespeare on the big screen (and I say this including the vastly overrated Sir Kenneth Branagh)Taymor has not only brought forth captivating and nuanced performances from her actors (Hopkins giving one of the best performances of his career), but has also found the raw, surreal reality at the heart of Shakespeare's play and created an environment in which that reality can be made manifest in a grandiose and spectacular manner.

We are not simply watching "Titus Andronicus" put on the big screen rather then the thrust stage. Instead we are viewing an entirely different form of reality, a reality in which the nature and dynamics of Shakespeare's play are augmented and empowered into a monstrous sublimity.