The April 23rd And the International Shakespeare Day. Not an official holiday, but in many countries the celebrations are alive and well Cinecittà News!
The date of birth of William Shakespeare it has never been officially recorded as it was not customary to do so in the 16th century. However, April 23 (1564) is considered. Furthermore, at the whim of the cabal or to honor the Bard of Stratford upon Avon with a dramatic divertissement, fate would have it that he died on the same date, i.e. the April 23, 1616.
What more propitious opportunity to recover the films based on his works? After more than 400 years, in fact, Shakespeare seems to be the most prolific “screenwriter” ever. Plundered, reworked, honoured, in a thousand forms: the coffer of his comedies and tragedies is a bottomless pit for producers looking for stories that will stand the test of time and his works will continue to be adapted, reimagined and gutted on big and small screens as long as we continue to make cinema.
Hundreds of films have been made from Shakespeare’s works, dating back to the early days of cinema, before people could even speak on a screen. The first Shakespearean sound film was The Taming of the Shrew in 1929, with Mary Pickford And Douglas Fairbanks.
Choosing what to see is difficult. In this list we offer you a mix between buried jewels, a little hidden and extraordinary adaptations, always able to transform the works of the Bard into something special on the big screen.
They are all films that use real Shakespeare dialogue, as beautiful poetry and prose are central to his legacy. That means nothing West Side Story
Nothing RanNothing Lion King or any other film that takes inspiration and then twists.Here are the 7 unmissable films and to recover for the Shakeday.
CORIOLANUS (2011) When Ralph Fiennes Cast in His Directorial Debut Coriolanus was a great surprise: a work never before adapted for the big screen. Fiennes plays the titular character, a Roman general elected to office with open contempt for the public. He and screenwriter John Logan transplanted the work to the present day, shooting in Belgrade instead of Rome. An incredibly underrated film at the box office, an absolute jewel made resplendent by the performances of great personalities such as Gerard Butler, Brian Cox, Vanessa Redgrave and Jessica Chastain. A film capable of bringing to the screen a modern and metaphorical vision of politicians, the media and war. Rediscover it, you won’t regret it.
KING LEAR (1971) by Peter Brook Il King Lear by Peter Brook is perhaps the darkest film adaptation of a Shakespeare play. As the protagonist, Paul Scofield grappling with one of the playwright’s most difficult characters, the film is cold and hard, shot in a snow-covered Denmark, which makes one feel the need to wrap oneself up in a blanket. Scofield’s Lear manages to strike the perfect balance between monstrosity and empathy without feeling like two different characters, and never falls into the trap of trying to do too much. Not easy to track down, but if you can find it you will have an absolute masterpiece in your hands.
HAMLET (1996) by Kenneth Branagh There is no William Shakespeare without Kenneth Branagh. It is he who has given the Bard a newfound popularity and brought the masses back to interest in his stories. His greatest success, and one of the greatest of the last 30 years, is his Hamlet. Branagh for this film chooses not to choose, that is, he does not cut anything from the original tragedy. Not a single word fromHamlet of Shakespeare is kept out of this nearly four-hour epic shot on magnificent 70mm. The ambition is as huge as the length of the film. In these times of economic hardship and vision that cinema is going through, the chances that such a film will ever be made again are very slim. Worth seeing, if only for this (as well as for a cast including Kate Winslet, Julie Christie and the never quite late Robin Williams).
TITUS (1999) by Julie Taymor Impressive this first work by the artist Julie Taymor who has conceptualized the work in a place out of time. Traditional Roman clothes coexist in amazement next to motorcycles. Shakespeare’s words are perfectly integrated into an avant-garde cinematic body. The soundscape staged by Elliot Goldenthal incorporates genres ranging from classical to electro to alt-rock: amazing! And then there’s a graceful Anthony Hopkins who offers us one of the best interpretations of him ever. Watch Titus (also not very easy to find). It’s bold and bloody and beautiful.
MACBETH (1971) by Roman Polanski One of the greatest Shakespeare films was directed by Roman Polanski. There is no doubt. A Macbeth so engaging that any new adaptation will struggle to match it, including the recent one The tragedy of Macbeth by Joel Coen. Polanski directed Macbeth immediately following the murder of his wife Sharon Tate, and the grittiness of life and the barbarism of violence imbued every single frame of the film. Macbeth is a vibrant and emotional work about death, despair and madness. It doesn’t feature a cast full of big names, but the actors, led by Jon Finch and Francesca Annis, dig deep and deliver uncompromising, electric performances.
FALSTAFF (1965) by Orson Welles For whom is the creator of Fourth Estate the bar to overcome is so high that everything that comes after it appears smaller. Yet with Falstaff, Kenosha’s genius comes awfully close. First of all he does something unique: he takes theHenry IV part 1 and 2, pieces of Richard II, Henry V And The Merry Wives of Windsor, and filters them all through the character of Sir John Falstaff. And he gives us a beautiful story of friendship, betrayal and duty seen through the eyes of a secondary character. Scarce funding and limited time forced Welles to reinvent the way he directed films quite drastically, and the fast-paced, fast-paced style of Chimes at Midnight (this is the original title) seems extremely contemporary.
ROMEO + JULIET (1996) The Montagues and the Capulets are rival mafia families in contemporary California, and the boys in love with tragedy are played by a pair of dazzling, screen-bugging young actors: Leonardo DiCaprio (before Titanic) and Claire Danes. Baz Luhrmann’s edgy, baroque adaptation of Romeo and Juliet it is a “cult” that has brought millions of young people closer to Shakespeare’s most famous work.
Even with a massive dose of contemporary transfusions in the story, such as pistols and sports cars, the Australian director religiously adheres to the text of the Bard, including the Elizabethan dialogues, which, almost thirty years after its release, allows the film to move audiences as intensely as any traditional stage production of tragedy. And let’s not forget that Luhrmann and his team also delivered one of the best pop soundtracks in cinematic history.