Welcome to the kitchen table! The weather is inclement -- what better time to hunker down with a movie. I've been exploring Netflix -- today I am sharing films about:
Playing Shakespeare
I say "playing Shakespeare" because these films aren't the plays themselves -- they are about people finding meaning in the words of the Bard for their own lives and also bettering their own self expression through playing the classic roles. It is said that everything is in Shakespeare -- the whole of human experience. So what better vehicle could there be for finding meaning even in this modern age? The films are below the orange squiggly thing!
Shakespeare High
Okay, who was a drama geek in high school? (I was!) This film, produced by Kevin Spacey, will take you back. Every year, there is a Shakespeare competition among high schools in California, a competition Spacey himself competed in when he was at Chatsworth High. Many of the kids in the film are from broken homes, poor neighborhoods, and some were even in gangs. What do they get from Shakespeare? They learn to express themselves with poise and self respect. Can the study of Shakespeare be life changing? This film gives an emphatic "Yes".
Here is the "Shakespeare High" website and here is the official trailer. Do watch the trailer -- you'll want to check out the film!
Looking for Richard
Here, Al Pacino and friends (Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, Aidan Quinn and others) explore ways and methods to convey a complex play to American audiences -- because there is a general feeling that American actors can't do Shakespeare and American audiences won't like or understand it. They are out to prove that feeling is wrong and I believe they succeed. The play in question is "Richard III", the story of the rise and fall of a power-hungry villain, a very flawed human being who dies in fear after having ruined or ended the lives of those around him. Discussion of the work alternates with scenes from the play. I found the film to be absolutely fascinating. Watching Pacino work is intriguing and learning about the meaning of the script is illuminating. Give it a try. I'm not going to bother linking to the trailer because the trailer does not in any way give this fine movie justice.
If I Were You
And now for something completely different, a light comedy featuring one of Shakespeare's most difficult tragedies. Here, Marcia Gay Harden plays a woman who is stunned (stunned!) to learn her husband is cheating on her with a much younger woman. Through some twists and turns, the wife and mistress meet -- but the mistress remains unaware that the wife is married to her lover. They make a pact to give advice to one another -- and in so doing, end up in an amateur production of "King Lear" with the wife playing Lear and the mistress playing The Fool. It's a very engaging movie, not the least because it is an old tragic play that helps a modern woman find her balance and her self respect. Plus, Marcia Gay Harden is a gifted comedienne. She carries this (and Lear) with aplomb.
Watch the trailer for "If I Were You" here.
Slings and Arrows
This is a Canadian television series about the fictional Shakespeare festival of New Burbage. The artistic director, Oliver, dies in the first episode, becoming a ghost that only his replacement (an actor who completely lost his reason while playing Hamlet years before) can see and hear. As a matter of fact, the first season does focus on Hamlet. The second season is about a troubled production of MacBeth -- and the third is about putting on King Lear, the most difficult play of all, with a dying man in the very physically demanding lead. Here we have a ghost, an artistic director whose sanity is hanging by the thinnest of threads, a meddling financial director, a demanding leading lady...and so many other colorful characters. The whole series is very funny, extremely informative about the plays, and quite a good soap, to boot!
Here is the trailer for the first season -- it will give you a flavor for the series:
Please share your Friday night movie picks (Shakespearean or otherwise), your day, and your menus!
Prior Streaming Movies on a Friday Night subjects:
At the Table
Ghosts
Resilient People
Love
Food and Our Health
Cozy Mysteries
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