Hamlet (1996)

plays... about storytelling, about what it means to tell a story, about tropes, about actors, about the structure of theatre, about [lapses into coma, trails off]

It was oddly leaden. As ever, Branagh is a fine actor, and middling director.

I couldn't get onboard with Branagh's bleached-out hair. It was too "Elvira Madigan" for my liking.

Late 1800s? I thought it was more mid 1800s.

All I can say is Shakespeare was very wrong to give Rufus Sewall so few lines, and at the very end of the play.

Overblown.

Olivier did it better decades earlier.

As a gayling who was obsessed with Branagh - I loved this.

R5 Olivier focused too much on the Oedipus complex, which is no where to be fond in the text.

I think Olivier is one of the greatest actors of all time, but I think Branagh's Hamlet and Henry V and McKellen's Richard III are better adaptations than his.

[quote]Olivier focused too much on the Oedipus complex, which is no where to be fond in the text.

Fuck you, R7!

R8 It is true and you know it!

I thought it was fabulous, overblown style and all. One can love both this and the Olivier - a completely different take. But Branagh really used the whole cast brilliantly. Yes, there was some weaker, gimmicky casting (Jack Lemmon, Depardieu, etc.) but so much of the ensemble were brilliantly good. Special shout-out to Derek Jacobi for a definitive, entirely original take on Claudius. And just having the full, uncut text performed was special - you got a sense of the actual structure, balance, breadth, and pace of the play. I wish more Shakespeare adaptations would do this.

R10 having previously mseen some of Jacobi’s Prince, I couldn’t get my head around him playing Claudius. That’s just me and my brain nonsense, though, no shade on his performance.

Hamlet the character is a useless, timorous and self-absorbed dickhead who overthinks himself into a corner with fatal consequences for those around him. Nothing about him is heroic, laudable, or even that interesting. Never forget that.

Richard Briers was a very good Polonius.

Mr. McNeely: “You guys are reading Hamlet right? What’s one of the recurring themes in Hamlet?”

Tanner: (raising hand) “Oh! Ooh, call on me! Betrayal!”

McNeely: “Very good, very good. Okay, now who can give me a good example of betrayal?”

Deandra: “Oh! When Hamlet sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on a boat to die.”

McNeely: “Exactly! Hamlet betrays his friends.”

Brittnay: “Which is super fucked up, because only a fucking dickhole betrays his friends.”

Jenna: “Well, maybe he wouldn’t have, if his friends weren’t a bunch of selfish BITCHES who had already betrayed him in the first place.”

McNeely: “That’s exactly right, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were going to betray Hamlet first...”

Mackenzie: “Well, MAYBE if Hamlet had known his place, instead of being a whiny little BITCH, everything wouldn’t have been so FUCKED up!”

Jenna: “Well, maybe if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hadn’t made out with the guy Hamlet was in love with like two skanky little COCKWRANGLERS they wouldn’t have got put on that FUCKING BOAT!”

Mackenzie: “That doesn’t mean that Hamlet had to go and BURN DOWN an entire fucking MALL and almost ruin fucking EVERYTHING!”

Deandra: “And maybe if everyone would have chilled the fuck out, Ophelia would have still had her goddamn ARMS!”

McNeely: “Okay, I think we’ve moved a little off topic, but I love the energy guys, love the energy.”

Blaine: “Um, what page does the mall burn down on?”

Matthew: “Relax Blaine, apparently today’s not going to be a learning day.”

......

Fuck this whole thread right up its ass!

R16 like you wanted to do to me?

Derek Jacobi was terrible as Claudius

Billy Fucking Crystal?

Robin Fucking Williams?

Charleston Heston?

Jack Lemmon?

Kate Winslet?

Derek Jacobi?

Not "talent" that gives me much confidence.

R19 elucidate

It was great seeing the whole play--the proportionalities and rhythms felt right for once.

Nicholas Farrell as Horatio was wonderful, the best I've seen; same for Richard Briers as Polonius.

Some people don't like Billy Crystal as the Gravedigger, but I thought he gave a great nuanced, layered rendition.

This was the one performance of Charlton Heston's which I liked (as the Player King).

Our Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern were excellent.

I pretty much liked Branagh as Hamlet . . . much better than the renditions by Richard Burton and by Laurence Olivier. Derek Jacobi's performance as Hamlet (in the BBC Shakespeare's Plays set) is interesting and has many good ideas; but he rants every now and then. It's interesting to compare Jacobi's Hamlet with Branagh's Hamlet.

I disliked immensely the way in which Hamlet's talk with the ghost (and the whole scene) was presented, and equally disliked the very end, with Hamlet Senior's statue being pulled down (what was the production trying to say with that?). Also the inserts--where, for one instance, Richard Attenborough was filmed separately (as the English Ambassador) and then inserted into the scene in which the character appears--seemed exactly like that--awkward inserts--and could I think have been handled better technically.

But the production's good points far far outweigh its missteps, in my opinion.

R21 Don't forget about Rosemary Harris as the Player Queen

R18 how was Jacobi terrible as Claudius?