I would first like to applaud director Michael Almereyda, producer Amy Hobby and actor Ethan Hawke for being possibly the first people to make a film inspired by a Birthday Party song. Secondly I would like to say that, if I should ever find myself in the position of teaching a high-school English course, I would definitely screen this adaptation of Hamlet while covering the play. That is not to say I find this the best rendition I have ever seen, but it comes pretty near close and I would rank it far higher than Branagh's film. A lot is made of the modernization of the play and how it provides some sort of metaphor for contemporary America or international corporate culture. Rubbish. The play is, as always, about people. I don't know why anyone would be so amazed that this play seems so appropriate in a contemporary setting. What I find remarkable is that it ever made as much sense during the time of its initial production. Shakespeare was not only ahead of his time, he was so vastly ahead of it that he was quite out of fashion, in most parts of the civilized world, for some period after his death (Racine and Corneille were considered the real guys). One can only imagine what an Elizabethan audience would have made of such a conscience stricken protagonist. In those days any prince worth his salt, faced with such an uncle as Claudius, would have hewed strictly to a 'shoot first, ask questions later' policy. If Almereyda's film seems so perfect, it is not that his execution, as good as it is, is so fitting of the material, it is that the material is so fitting of the execution. Expanding upon this I would like to say that the cast, for the most part is wonderful. Yes, even Mr. Hawke, who one doesn't think of as the strongest of actors, was finely suitable as a confused, young man of grave burden. Bill Murray was wonderful as Polonius, giving the character an ruefully comic twist that only he could provide (there were moments, when he was opining on Hamlet's madness, that I almost expected him to say, "The Ham-Man, that nut!"). Sam Shepard gave the most doleful and bitter performance of the The Ghost I have ever seen, Karl Geary provided a wonderfully warm Horatio (why has this guy not been in more films?) and Liev Schreiber, Diane Venora, Steve Zahn, etc. were all marvelous in their respective roles. The film is beautifully shot, the settings are perfect and I enjoyed each and every little in-joke I managed to catch (was that a clip of "The Crow" at the Blockbuster?). All in all a great introduction to Shakespeare's world (our world), a fine first Hamlet for anyone to see and an all-around damn fine picture!
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