Future releases [2]

Um, overall, I didn't think it was very good. To justify that I'll start with what is good. There is some nice imagery, but with a massive caveat I'll come back to. But there are some nice shots, particularly how the 3 witches are done, or rather the 1 witch, sort of. All the witches dialogue is given to a single witch, who seems to be played by a contortionist who is also a well known Shakespearean actress, and she is the best thing in this, giving her witch creepy movements, and when she does stand and envelopes herself in a cloak of darkness its incredibly striking and ominous. And well, witchy.
This is further added to when she confronts Macbeth and Banquo on their way back from their victorious battle with the Norwegians. Here the single witch stands on the other side of a small pool of water but her reflection is three witches. This is one of the best ways in which this updates the story visuals, sadly its an outlier.

Also good is the fidelity to the text, with a fairly strict telling of Shakespeare's words, nothing gets mangled in the language or dialogue.
I also approved of how it's quite strict, at least to start with, with how a scene would be portrayed. The play opens with King Duncan of Scotland receiving news from a newly returned from battle wounded soldier about how the battle goes. This is how Macbeth and Banquo are introduced, in dialogue of their gory but loyal and therefore noble exploits on the battlefield. Macbeth in particular is praised for splitting his enemy down the middle from navel to chops.
Most productions however tend to open, even if only under the credits, with this battle shown.
But this version is stark in its rendering of this scene. The film begins with the King and his son standing outside their tent, the soldier comes up reports, then the messenger who gives news of victory turns up by just walking into shot through the mist. It's sparse in its telling and could easily be staged on an actual stage exactly as is. It also lets you focus on the dialogue. As Shakespeare intended, we hear of Macbeth and form an opinion of him before we meet him. I always find versions which open with us seeing him in action miss the point. We are meant to form an opinion before we meet him, not first from meeting him.

So what's up with this version? Well you know how in the trailer everything is sort of in a white misty look? Well the whole film is shot like that, that's not just for the Blasted Heath. It's oddly annoying over time rather than adding much to the visuals, which feel like they are striving to be artistic when functional would be better.

And then there are the performances. Its set in the right historic times but Scots accents are a rare breed indeed. And Denzil's Macbeth, with his New York accent and the softness of his delivery. It just took me utterly out the film. And it didn't have the weight or darkness, or grimness that Macbeth encompasses for me. I didn't believe him as the loyal, noble, loving, yet violent, seen too much, secretly ambitious fall into monstrous tyrant that is Macbeths character. And his Lady Macbeth with her strong American accent, though a better performance I thought, just didn't work with the setting and their relationship lacked the necessary spark and passion.
In the same way a non piano player can learn to play a single tune, so this often feel like some of the actors have learned how to say the lines, but don't really get them and so don't convey the real meaning or feeling behind them. And the American accents are an issue for me.

When I saw Robin Hood Prince of Thieves in my local cinema the two biggest laughs that film got were when Kevin Costern stepped off the boat at the start and kissed the ground going on about his England in a clearly American accent, and when Sean Connery’s voice momentarily preceded his arrival on screen as England's Richard the Lionheart with is thick Edinburgh brogue. Brought the house down. There was no way to take that seriously.
This whole film was a bit like that for me. When the soldiers are chanting Hail Macbeth King of Scotland in every accent and especially American ones but no Scots it's weird and funny, and makes it hard to be engaged with.

Another issue is the staging. Whilst it sticks close to the text it attempts to find new scenarios to show them in. So for example Banquo's shade goes past the dinner table and Macbeth follows him ranting out into an artistically curved and lengthy hallway, and it's there Lady Macbeth confronts him. The ghost itself is only ever glimpsed or shown in a series of disorientation fast cuts, and the whole way it was staged just felt that, staged and everyone felt like they were acting not inhabiting the roles. This was true for me in many scenes.
The climatic fight between Macbeth and MacDuff takes place in a bizarre twisting sort of stone trench whose only real purpose is to add a strange uniqueness to the setting for the fight, but like a lot of things it feels too forced.

So whilst it's good on the text, interesting but often annoying in its visuals, the performances just don't hold it together. I can't in all honesty recommend it over other better version of Macbeth out there. which is a puty as occasionally it has its moments.