For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
Everyone is buzzing about it, and I guess it's time for me to fly into the conversation. For those of you who know me well, it should not come as a surprise that I am utterly devoted and obsessed with Shakespeare and (some) of his plays. Romeo and Juliet has always been a favorite of mine -- but not in the traditional sense.
"The greatest love story ever told" is not how I would describe the pathetic relationship between Romeo and his infatuated love Juliet. True love? I think not. Yet Shakespeare (the genius that he is) is truly a poet and his writing is utterly breath-taking in this classic. I read this play at least once a year, and don't think I will ever get sick of it. I do not condone the behavior between the two "star-crossed lovers" nor do I believe in the dramatic unfolding of the play, but I cannot get enough of the words pushing out of the paper and into my head, creating these stunning portraits of scenes that can only be painted by a true artist.
That being said, there has been countless adaptations of this play, and below are the trailers for the most famous. With my commentary on them; of course.
First of all we have the classic 1968 adaption by Franco Zeffirelli starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. A truly beautiful film. They kept close to the original writing and cast the two leads flawlessly. It is always hard to remember how young Romeo and Juliet were written as, so by casting a 17 and 15 year old, Zeffirelli succeeded in refreshing all of our minds. Makes the silly love-aspect of the play a little more bearable. Young love *sigh*. The lines are delivered naturally and the story unfolds nicely. Although the film does get a little dry and boring near the end, this will still be one of my favorite adaptations of this play.
Next we have arguably the worst film Leonardo DiCaprio has ever been in, if not the worst film ever made. The horrendous adaptation by Baz Luhrmann starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes (1996). Although many describe this film to be a masterpiece, I find it dreadful and just watching the trailer made me cringe. It was a failed attempt to modernize Shakespeare's work, lacking the right flair it needed to make it a spectacle (a la The Great Gatsby), and also lacking the right translation from the original play to more "understandable English" *shivers*. Let's just say I wasn't too keen on the whole idea of modernizing a vintage play.
But of course I judged too soon, because only two years later in 1998 John Madden along with the phenomenal Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes blew my mind with a (honestly hard to explain) adaption of the play. Not a direct telling of the play, but a very well-written story with two plots woven into one seamlessly. I cannot express my love for this movie through a simple blurb. The way the characters came alive and naturally portrayed the making of Romeo and Juliet as a play just makes me clap my hands together in giddy joy. All of the actors were superb, and the storyline was epic. (The trailer doesn't nearly do it justice.) If you haven't seen this film, I highly recommend it.
And finally, the one we've all been waiting for. The most recent attempt at rekindling the original jewel in it's most basic glory. I have not seen this film yet, so a review will be coming shortly but the trailer looks promising. Although I must admit the gorgeous Ed Westwick may have nudged my opinion in one way over the other... (What can a girl do?) I'm excited (and frightfully nervous) to see how this new piece will unfold.
