Saturday, February 13, 2010

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Miramax
Directed by John Madden
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Miramax)

Best Picture
Best Original Screenplay
Best Actress: Gwyneth Paltrow
Best Supporting Actress: Judi Dench
Best Art Direction - Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Music
Nominated: Best Director
Nominated: Best Cinematography
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor - Geoffrey Rush
Nominated: Best Film Editing
Nominated: Best Makeup
Nominated: Best Sound

Superb period detail and a clever screenplay make this Shakespeare a joy to watch. Ole Will is experiencing writer's block, until he sets eyes on Viola. She inspires him not only to climb balconies for secret seductions, but to write his most famous play, Romeo and Ethyl the Pirate's Daughter. The screenplay, co-written by Tom Stoppard, effortlessly intertwines their relationship with that of the more famous couple in the play, relentlessly moving forward until we get to the debut performance: where not only are they Romeo and Juliet in character but in person as well. I did not like the doe-eyed, perfectly groomed stubble, rushed performance of Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare, he seemed more like eye-candy for the modern audience, and for that matter so did Gwyneth Paltrow, though at least her Viola was a bit more subdued.

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