Christiancrouse
Joined Apr 2000
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Reviews6
Christiancrouse's rating
Dark and moody, this adaptation of Shakespeare's tale of betrayal and revenge is a must-see for those who think Shakespeare is dated and inaccessible to today's film. They should be proven wrong with this endeavour. Oliver Parker's vision of homoeroticism and the trappings of masculinity transfers easily on-screen, with the help of the wonderful Laurence Fishburne as one of filmdom's best Othellos.
After watching Welles and Olivier in their performances as a black-faced Moor, Fishburne is a breath of fresh air, and comes across as the first actor who has ever portrayed Othello's truth on-screen. Fishburne plays subtext wonderfully, playing out the very real human flaws that are rooted in ego and pride that make Othello a haunting and complex character. Irene Jacob is Desdemona as a sensual force drawn into a powerful sexual relationship with a dangerous man. The love scenes between Othello and Desdemona - scenes Shakespeare could only fantasize about - are haunting with their near-mysticism and erotica. Very effective.
One of the hidden gems of this film is Anna Patrick's very powerful performance as Iago's wife Emilia. This wonderful actress gives Emilia the power and complexity of personality that it needs to encourage examination of Shakespeare's commentary on women in this play.
The only downside to this wonderful film is the casting of Kenneth Branagh in the role of Iago. If anyone imagines Shakespeare's ultimate villain as a dark and serpentine presence, they will be disappointed in Branagh's performance. Fair-haired and playing "British-boarding-school-mommy's-boy," Branagh is a strange choice for the role of Iago. His sporadic asides with the audience are more satirical than serious, forced than innovative. His handling of Shakespearian dialogue is characteristically academic and not personable enough. Fishburne is living the part, whereas Branagh reads it. However, if you want to consider Iago as an effeminate and baby-faced schemer who has major issues about his masculinity, then Branagh is your man.
An erotic and dark rendering of one of Shakespeare's most famous works, Oliver Parker's OTHELLO is definitely worth the time for its direction, its unique interpretation, and Laurence Fishburne, who makes Othello into one of the most dangerous and masculine sexual presences on film.
After watching Welles and Olivier in their performances as a black-faced Moor, Fishburne is a breath of fresh air, and comes across as the first actor who has ever portrayed Othello's truth on-screen. Fishburne plays subtext wonderfully, playing out the very real human flaws that are rooted in ego and pride that make Othello a haunting and complex character. Irene Jacob is Desdemona as a sensual force drawn into a powerful sexual relationship with a dangerous man. The love scenes between Othello and Desdemona - scenes Shakespeare could only fantasize about - are haunting with their near-mysticism and erotica. Very effective.
One of the hidden gems of this film is Anna Patrick's very powerful performance as Iago's wife Emilia. This wonderful actress gives Emilia the power and complexity of personality that it needs to encourage examination of Shakespeare's commentary on women in this play.
The only downside to this wonderful film is the casting of Kenneth Branagh in the role of Iago. If anyone imagines Shakespeare's ultimate villain as a dark and serpentine presence, they will be disappointed in Branagh's performance. Fair-haired and playing "British-boarding-school-mommy's-boy," Branagh is a strange choice for the role of Iago. His sporadic asides with the audience are more satirical than serious, forced than innovative. His handling of Shakespearian dialogue is characteristically academic and not personable enough. Fishburne is living the part, whereas Branagh reads it. However, if you want to consider Iago as an effeminate and baby-faced schemer who has major issues about his masculinity, then Branagh is your man.
An erotic and dark rendering of one of Shakespeare's most famous works, Oliver Parker's OTHELLO is definitely worth the time for its direction, its unique interpretation, and Laurence Fishburne, who makes Othello into one of the most dangerous and masculine sexual presences on film.
In an attempt to create a trilogy, the powers-that-be should have been careful in building this continuing story to a shattering and epic-sized climax. Establishing the presence of Evil itself in the person of Damien Thorn through two previous movies, the third installment lets the veiwer down in the characterization of Damien as an adult. Sam Neill does a great job as the charismatic and darkly seductive political wunderkind, but, as with the script for DAMIEN: OMEN II, the material isn't there to delve into the tormented soul of evil.
THE FINAL CONFLICT attempts to be more in keeping with the original OMEN in terms of style and mood. The film is informed by the very presence of England itself, complete with its overcast skies and its sweeping country landscape. After the "splash of colour" that the second movie represented, the conclusion is wise in being "serious" as its original. However, they just don't get serious enough.
The build-up to the ultimate conflict between good and evil starts off well. The emergence of religious forces who are determined to stop the rise to power of the anti-Christ leads to Damien, who is poised for supreme world power as the head of the global Thorn empire. Unfortunately, what follows is a series of accidents that follow Damien and set out to be as grisly as possible. THE OMEN series works well when it suggests rather than gratuitously shocks. This movie tries to shock the veiwer every chance it can get.
There are some interesting moments - conversations of apocryphal prophecy between Damien and his loyal assistant/manservant; a nocturnal meeting on the mount between Damien and his legions of worshippers; a confrontation between Damien and the inverted Christ-statue he keeps in a secret shrine; the bizarre lovemaking between Damien and his love interest (played by the beautiful Lisa Harrow, whose resemblance to Lee Remick could have been played more upon to create an Oedipus-type complex in Damien). The ending is a complete disappointment and rewrites the biblical prophecies that have been followed religiously through the first two films.
Throughout the first films, Damien and the evil he represents grew from a contained existence and more into the outer world. The third installment should have depicted more of a larger-scale battle between Good and Evil, God and the Devil. Although understandably a challenge to expect anyone to depict the Book of Revelations on-screen effectively, the third part of the OMEN series disappoints in that it avoids the fight instead of even trying to engage in it.
Although it fails to live up to its built-up expectations, the movie is worthy to see, if only to see what isn't done that what is.
THE FINAL CONFLICT attempts to be more in keeping with the original OMEN in terms of style and mood. The film is informed by the very presence of England itself, complete with its overcast skies and its sweeping country landscape. After the "splash of colour" that the second movie represented, the conclusion is wise in being "serious" as its original. However, they just don't get serious enough.
The build-up to the ultimate conflict between good and evil starts off well. The emergence of religious forces who are determined to stop the rise to power of the anti-Christ leads to Damien, who is poised for supreme world power as the head of the global Thorn empire. Unfortunately, what follows is a series of accidents that follow Damien and set out to be as grisly as possible. THE OMEN series works well when it suggests rather than gratuitously shocks. This movie tries to shock the veiwer every chance it can get.
There are some interesting moments - conversations of apocryphal prophecy between Damien and his loyal assistant/manservant; a nocturnal meeting on the mount between Damien and his legions of worshippers; a confrontation between Damien and the inverted Christ-statue he keeps in a secret shrine; the bizarre lovemaking between Damien and his love interest (played by the beautiful Lisa Harrow, whose resemblance to Lee Remick could have been played more upon to create an Oedipus-type complex in Damien). The ending is a complete disappointment and rewrites the biblical prophecies that have been followed religiously through the first two films.
Throughout the first films, Damien and the evil he represents grew from a contained existence and more into the outer world. The third installment should have depicted more of a larger-scale battle between Good and Evil, God and the Devil. Although understandably a challenge to expect anyone to depict the Book of Revelations on-screen effectively, the third part of the OMEN series disappoints in that it avoids the fight instead of even trying to engage in it.
Although it fails to live up to its built-up expectations, the movie is worthy to see, if only to see what isn't done that what is.
SALO is not for everyone ... but everyone should see it. As the past becomes history and studies in fascism and totalitarianism become more academic and more generic, we lose that sense of anger and horror that such ideologies should inspire in us all. SALO captures the very essence of evil that fascism truly is. After watching the events of organized chaos unfold in this film, no one will ever think of these movements the same way again.
Adapting the plot of Sade's 18th century novel 120 Days of Sodom, Pasolini strikes deep at the heart of the viewer's sense of security by drawing them into a world of perversion and molestation. He uses sex-as-metaphor to depict the atrocities of fascist mentality and ideology. Sado-masochistic practices and pedophilism dominate this very raw and gritty film, perversions that culminate into one of the most horrific conclusions ever captured on film. There is no where to hide, and Pasolini forces the observer to become an unwilling participant in his chateau of horrors. Nothing - sex, home, food, beauty - will be looked upon in the same way again after being introduced to his world of masters and slaves where religion, family and love are completely destroyed in the pursuit of sexual pleasure and power.
SALO has long been misunderstood, challenged by censorship, political and artistic narrow-mindedness, and fear. It is, however, one of the most important films ever made. As a work of art, it is a testament to Pasolini's genius. With its gritty and doom-laden atmosphere, created by its colourless cinematography and shadowed illumination, he creates a world with absolutely no hope, a vacuum existence that lives on death. The air permeates with the very real presence of Evil. Pasolini manipulates the senses - sight, smell, taste, touch - and locks the imagination in a prison of terror. In these respects, it is a study in the endless possibilities of film as art. More importantly, it is a powerful anti-fascist statement, ironically choosing a work of fiction to depict the brutal realities of human nature and the dark recesses that feed and is fed by fascist ideology.
Defending Sade as an essential study to achieve a true Western education, Camille Paglia proclaimed that one must face the ugliness as well as the beautiful in life. The same can be said in defense of Pasolini's SALO. We must never lose the very real and raw emotions that fascism should inspire in us all, no matter how far we seem removed from its chapter in history. SALO encapsulates those frightening and monstrous emotions and preserves them for us all to experience. It is the hope of the film to shock, terrify, and make the viewer wiser so the past will never again be repeated.
Adapting the plot of Sade's 18th century novel 120 Days of Sodom, Pasolini strikes deep at the heart of the viewer's sense of security by drawing them into a world of perversion and molestation. He uses sex-as-metaphor to depict the atrocities of fascist mentality and ideology. Sado-masochistic practices and pedophilism dominate this very raw and gritty film, perversions that culminate into one of the most horrific conclusions ever captured on film. There is no where to hide, and Pasolini forces the observer to become an unwilling participant in his chateau of horrors. Nothing - sex, home, food, beauty - will be looked upon in the same way again after being introduced to his world of masters and slaves where religion, family and love are completely destroyed in the pursuit of sexual pleasure and power.
SALO has long been misunderstood, challenged by censorship, political and artistic narrow-mindedness, and fear. It is, however, one of the most important films ever made. As a work of art, it is a testament to Pasolini's genius. With its gritty and doom-laden atmosphere, created by its colourless cinematography and shadowed illumination, he creates a world with absolutely no hope, a vacuum existence that lives on death. The air permeates with the very real presence of Evil. Pasolini manipulates the senses - sight, smell, taste, touch - and locks the imagination in a prison of terror. In these respects, it is a study in the endless possibilities of film as art. More importantly, it is a powerful anti-fascist statement, ironically choosing a work of fiction to depict the brutal realities of human nature and the dark recesses that feed and is fed by fascist ideology.
Defending Sade as an essential study to achieve a true Western education, Camille Paglia proclaimed that one must face the ugliness as well as the beautiful in life. The same can be said in defense of Pasolini's SALO. We must never lose the very real and raw emotions that fascism should inspire in us all, no matter how far we seem removed from its chapter in history. SALO encapsulates those frightening and monstrous emotions and preserves them for us all to experience. It is the hope of the film to shock, terrify, and make the viewer wiser so the past will never again be repeated.