Romeo + Juliet

[happybird]

Watching it now, taking a snack-gathering break.

Wow! It’s a lot to take in. Haven’t decided if I like it or not.

It’s so manic, but that does make sense. Rebelling teenagers in love are manic. Visually, the movie is beautiful and overwhelming. Overwhelmed is how I feel right now.

I’m about halfway through, will come back when I am done.

[Aristus]

1. It got a lot of flack at the time for being "MTV Shakespeare".

But I think it's a marvelous film, and that Shakespeare himself might have approved.

'Romeo And Juliet' has become shorthand for young love, June, spoon, honeymoon, all that crap. People who've never seen the play don't know how incredibly violent it is, and that the fate of the two young lovers is not a desirable outcome for anyone who thinks "R&J' means "romance".

I think Luhrmann updated the story brilliantly, and naming the firearms after edged weapons was an ingenious way to keep Shakespeare's dialogue without having to make clumsy alterations.

Anyway, great film-viewing experience.

[happybird]

2. I enjoyed it

At least, as much as I can enjoy that story. It has always annoyed and angered me. That’s not love, it’s juvenile infatuation. I’ve never understood why people swoon over the supposed romance.

Mercutio and Tybalt stole the show.

[Aristus]

3. Harold Parrineau gave an incredible performance as Mercutio.

Although his Queen Mab speech was a little manic, he's the only Mercutio who seems to have understood that Queen Mab, like the hallucinogenic drug he gives Romeo, can cause euphoria and enjoyable visions, or madness and terror.