"Where be your jibes now, Gibson?"
This version of Hamlet, and Olivia's, will probably not be outdone for quite some time.
Gibon and Zeffirelli find a perfect balance between Shakespearean poetic prose and modern story...
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"Where be your jibes now, Gibson?"
This version of Hamlet, and Olivia's, will probably not be outdone for quite some time.
Gibon and Zeffirelli find a perfect balance between Shakespearean poetic prose and modern story telling. It could be argued that some of the camera work would have even been inspired by the spirit of the Bard, as when Hamlet, circles and the camera follows him.
Gibson, although I was skeptical, proves that he is capable of finding a good and hearty rhythm inside Shakespeare's lyrical beat. And better, he actually does it with emotion! The scene where Hamlet fights his own demon, dreaming of that eternal rest, and the passion that Gibson plays into the role, are excellent (you know "To be or not to be?").
Luckily we are graced with Glenn Close as the Queen, his mother, torn between her family and the hope for love again. She plays this part perfectly; some times full of power, but sometimes utterly confused.
If you're not familiar with the patterns of speech and the language, it might be a hard sell to get you to sit down and watch this, but a couple of viewing and the Elizabethan will become almost second nature, and once that happens, the magic comes out.
Tragic tales, Shakespeare was great at, so be warned.