Love’s Labours Lost (2000) is Kenneth Branagh’s creative adaptation of one of William Shakespeare’s least successful plays. Branagh perspicaciously chooses to treat the troublesome play completely light-heartedly. He moves it to the 1930s and puts in wonderful show tunes (e.g., “They Can’t Take That Away From Me”) complete with good Broadway choreography. Also, cute black and white newsreels keep a modern audience abreast of a confusing play. I loved the goofiness. But I was conscious that some of the dancers couldn’t act very well, and some of the actors could not deliver Shakespeare flawlessly. I was bothered by how difficult the dialogue was to follow in some of the slapstick comedy scenes. And none of the cardboard characters amount to people we care about. Still, when we complain about formulaic Hollywood movies, here is one at the opposite end of the spectrum. Branagh understands Shakespeare so well that he left out 50% of the lines and went for the spirit rather than the letter of the play. It helps if you view it in the same spirit. Long after seeing the movie, I remember some of the scenes of pure delight.
posted on Sunday, April 15, 2007 10:33 PM by JimBell