The Tragedy of Macbeth - Review Thread

I say this statement without factual evidence to back it, but I have to be correct in assuming that William Shakespeare is the most adapted, performed, read author in history -- right? From middle school plays to Broadway, numerous film adaptations since cinema's inception, and the original texts translated into nearly every language on the planet, Shakespeare is everywhere you look. His works have been done so many times that a sort of groaning fatigue echoes throughout the land when yet another of his famous plays is being adapted. What can this version offer that the other hundreds haven't already achieved? And when you look back on the many, many iterations of Shakespeare that have come just in the form of movies, I'd frankly agree with that sentiment. It's been covered by legends like Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles, Roman Polanski and Akira Kurosawa. They've been converted to new forms, like with Throne of Blood and The Lion King, or even put into contemporary society like with Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. How could there possibly be a new film of a Shakespeare play that can usher in new life to 400-year-old works? Well, enter Joel Coen.

Joel, along with his brother Ethan who did not assist in the writing and directing this time around, have made names for themselves as some of the most beloved and diverse American filmmakers ever. It seems like cinephiles and casual audiences alike both love the Coen's films, and it's not surprising considering how diverse their filmography is. No Country for Old Men came from the same guys who did Raising Arizona. There are few directors in film's history that can boast such a diverse range of successes on their filmography like the Coen Brothers can, but even still the latest offering, The Tragedy of Macbeth, is a leap into unparalleled territory even for them. Even more intriguing is that Joel Coen has elected to recreate a faithful adaptation of the play, not disguising it under a contemporary plot line or deviating from Shakespeare's words. Unsurprisingly though, Joel Coen's Macbeth is an absolute triumph, one that somehow manages to both respect the scope of the play as it pertains to being performed on stage while introducing a level of cinematic quality to the Stratford-born's work the likes of which have gone unrivaled since Orson Welles with his version of Othello way back in 1952. In a filmography of bold and unique fare, The Tragedy of Macbeth is Joel Coen's boldest yet, and proves that perhaps there is more to be gathered from Shakespeare's library after all.

Macbeth (Denzel Washington) is a Scottish lord who, on the way back from being victorious in battle, is approached by three Witches (all portrayed by Kathryn Hunter) who tell Macbeth of a prophecy that he will take the throne and become king. Back at Macbeth's castle, King Duncan (Brendan Gleeson) celebrates the victory of his generals and anoints his son, Malcolm (Harry Melling), as his heir to the throne. In the night, Macbeth, aided on by his wife (Frances McDormand), murders Duncan and casts the blame on the king's guards, who flee or are subjected to more murder by Macbeth. Macbeth becomes king, fulfilling the prophecy, but is progressively plagued by his own guilt and paranoia and continues to kill off any supposed opposition in order to suppress these feelings. Of course they only intensify, and while omitting spoilers from a text that's older than America seems silly I'll leave the plot alone from here.

But it isn't Coen's dutiful following of Shakespeare's work that makes his version so enthralling, but rather how he stages all these scenes with action and imagery where so many other adaptations have succumbed to the characters standing and talking or sitting and talking. Coen and cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel have tapped into the moody contrasts of German Expressionism, filming The Tragedy of Macbeth in striking black-and-white and filling the frame with so much fog and atmosphere that you wonder if the sound stages were actually set on top of a bog. Equally impressive is that the entire film was shot on stages, brilliantly designed by Stefan Dechant to reflect a sort of minimalism appropriate for theater but wholly cinematic nonetheless. It's odd to see a movie so dazzling in style while also benefitting from immense restraint, but that's what Coen and his team have pulled off here. While many directors would elect for large battle sequences or sweeping crane shots to jazz up Shakespeare for modern audiences, Coen does the opposite and relishes the opportunity to fill these small sets with surreal imagery and thundering sound design to perfectly emulate the pounding paranoia and insanity that Macbeth is falling into. These days most films on black-and-white look pretty damn good, but few have achieved the complete visual package that Tragedy of Macbeth have. For all the incredible star power involved with this project (Washington in particular will very likely be nominated at the least for his excellent performance), what sets Coen's Macbeth apart from the seemingly endless other adaptations out there is his attention to the visual language and sound design that most of his peers have largely ignored. In terms of dynamic performances in Shakespeare adaptations there are several, several to choose from. But when it comes to an adaptation that combines a judicious respect to the text while also pushing the text into becoming a truly cinematic experience, it's hard to top what Coen has done here. A masterwork in minimalism while bringing a cinematic prowess to a stage play is such a difficult task to pull off, but Coen and his team have done just that and as a result have created the definitive adaptation of Macbeth for decades to come.

9/10