To construct a modern adaptation of an iconic Shakespeare play is a colossal task. It is also exceedingly difficult to do so without modernizing the semantics of the script because it’s obviously more difficult for viewers to be convinced by actors who are attempting to capture the essence of an archaic vernacular, particularly when the actors are so universally acclaimed and respected that you’re used to them gliding through the entire screenplay (and, indeed, the script) with ease, with a sense of unadulterated effortlessness that is perhaps impossible to maintain when you are a 21st-century human speaking with a 16th-century tongue. But when your director is Joel Coen (No Country For Old Men, Inside Llewyn Davis, Fargo, True Grit, A Serious Man, The Big Lebowski, etc.) and your lead actors are Denzel Washington & Frances McDormand, that makes things a bit easier. The Tragedy of Macbeth—a canny and fascinating hybrid is an avant-garde film that simultaneously adopts facets of past Shakespeare film adaptations while still maintaining a novel foundation. The set design is eerie and postmodern. The black-and-white cinematography is sharp. And the scenes are raw and lucid. To me, this is the type of film you’d expect at an art museum where you go into a room, sit down on one of the two or three rows of benches, and see an avant-garde film that’s continuously played on a loop. Except this one is an hour and a half long, and the snobbier critics out there will call it perhaps the greatest film of 2021. But at the end of the day, several people left the film early when I saw it in theaters—it’s too artsy for the masses—and their experiences are valid. Alas, 2021 was a bad year for film. So, The Tragedy of Macbeth impressed me more than any other film this year in terms of technical excellence. It is dressed in iterations of past cinematic eras; the set and production design are phenomenal; and Denzel Washington captures the vanity and the murderous lust with which Macbeth tore through his world. Expect it to collect Oscars—but it is not for those who just seek to be entertained.
Rating: 8.5/10
fair analysis
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🙌
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This version will be inevitably compared to the Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard version from 2015 that didn’t get a lot of love from the theatres. I haven’t seen this version but I really like Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy. It was interesting to see your take on it. It doesn’t sound like a theatre movie to me but more streaming where it can also be found. Hope you are well. Keep seeing the movies. Cheers and have a great 2022!
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Hope you enjoy if you ever get a chance. And if not, I totally understand! Hope you’re doing well & having a great new year!
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Also, would you recommend the Fassbender version? I am a huge fan of him but actually haven’t gotten a chance to check that one out. Thought he was amazing in 12 Years a Slave, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant, Steve Jobs, and even all of the X-Men films. Very underrated in my personal opinion. Cheers!
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WOW.
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looks cool – based off trailer
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🤠
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The trailer definitely got me excited.
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👍
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best picture?
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Nah.
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(If you’re asking whether I think it will win. But if you’re asking if I think it deserves Best Picture, that’s a different conversation.)
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thumbs up
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Joel and Ethan Coen are a team with very few equals in the wider film industry today. Some of their best work is considered by both critics and fans to be among the most famous cult movies ever made, and their prowess for engaging and unusual dialogue gives their films a distinctly authorial quality that critics so often applaud.
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👏
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Belfast may have something to say about the Best Picture nomination. As you suggested it was another lean year in the theatres.
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Indeed! Looks like Belfast is the favorite. And yep, hope next year is better!
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👀
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😵
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you done with lukeatkins.com ? ? ?
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Not at all! This is just a supplemental little side project to go along with lukeatkins.com so I can get more consistent, high-quality reviews out there (particularly to those who follow me just for the film reviews). But I’ll certainly keep posting my more elaborate & comprehensive reviews on this blog. Cheers!
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Boring.
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Yep, honestly.
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(Or at least the early parts of the film. Still loved it, though.)
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terrence malick vibes
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I get why you’d say that (Malick is very avant-garde too, of course). But honestly, I don’t think they’re otherwise very similar. Malick is heady, ethereal, larger-than-life, visceral & expansive in his cinematography, and unlike anything else on Earth (other than the late Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky). Meanwhile, The Tragedy of Macbeth is very minimalistic, raw, focused on the characters (and not more metaphysical things), & bleak.
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that’s one way to view it
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True. Just as subjective of a take as any other.
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Did you see the Tragedy of Macbeth yet? Just curious.
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Ya know? Sorry for the long reply though!
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Interesting trailer
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Totally! And that’s just the teaser trailer but I can send the main trailers just for fun.
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Interestign trailer
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❤
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🤓
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welcome!
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Appreciate it!
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^^^ u back!
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🤙
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