From the very first frame of Justin Kurzel's Macbeth, it's apparent that this version is going to be a visual feast for the eyes. Kurzel's film is a stunning retelling of the story of the rise and fall of Macbeth, a man consumed by his own ambitions for power. Let me make this clear right now, I haven't read Shakespeare's Macbeth for over a decade, so if you are looking for a review centered around the adaptation being faithful to the story, this isn't the review for you. Personally, even if I did have a stronger recollection of the source material, I personally find these types of critiques vapid and quite frankly uninteresting, as for me a film's merits are more related to what they do, then whether if they live up to the preconceived notions the viewer has. Anyway, Kurzel's re-imaging of Macbeth is very stylistic and intense, with Kurzel not showing a penchant for any type of restraint when it comes to attempting to capture the inner psychology of his characters, most notably Macbeth. Some of these lavish, stylistic touches work better than others, but the way the film's art direction and production design give the film a naturalistic quality go a very long way in helping to balance the film with its more intense, stylistic flourishes. One of my favorite sequences in the entire film comes when Macbeth murders the king under the darkness of night, as Kurzel injects the scene with a very moody, expressionistic quality, one that feels larger than the death of one man, but a titantical shift for the lives of many. For those curious, Michael Fassbinder as Macbeth and Marion Cotillard's Lady Macbeth are both performed to perfection, with Cotillard bringing a transfixing quality of self-awareness to her character, one who knows the evil she is capable of. Feeling both intensely medievel yet painstakingly contemporary, Justin Kurzel's Macbeth is an interesting adaptation of Shakespeares' Macbeth, that uses an abundance of style and even some surrealism, to explore the deteriorating psyche of Macbeth, a character who is destroyed by his own lust for power.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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