TV film review: Macbeth (2010) directed by Rupert Goold.

They keep coming... Yes, another review for a film of my favourite Shakespeare play. This time the film is the 2010 version directed by Rupert Goold. Here is a confusing film that delivers one your worst nightmares! I give to you the three witches of Macbeth, dressed as masked nurses! Every time we see them, there is always a horrid act. This includes one of the witches cleaning a large knife, or even when the three witches first meet Macbeth and Banquo, a witch holds up a patients heart. This is after the patient's death of course. I meticulously noticed that these three sinister sisters continued to appear throughout the film, even in the form of other guises to that of the masked nurses.

Aside from masked nurses, witches or however they are perceived, the king and other characters are soldiers. This film is based on the idea of a war which is to be won. With soldiers shooting guns and planes heard from above, this film is a bloody and violent depiction of the Scottish play. The setting is far different to any other that I have seen from other film versions of the play. Macbeth's home looks like the hospital at the beginning where we witness those three wicked witches and medical equipment. The corridor seems to be the same and repeated in the film from start to finish. I noticed some other things are repeated throughout the film such as how there are random sinks dotted throughout the film. When Macbeth returned with the daggers, the sink is alone in a room, if can be called one. I find this a little odd... There were other things that confused me such as the train scenes though the film was not all bad. I am still completely lost by the ending. What did I see? I think you have to watch it to follow what I mean...

This film had a different approach to lighting. Often there were scenes with minimal lightning to create tension or to intensify horror or scariness. The settings were unsual. Most of the time, I tried to follow where we were but just could not follow. There were two scenes that vividly stood out where setting was concerned. The first was the party scene which took maximum use of effective lighting, camera shots and angles. The way that scene was done was incredible, especially when Banquo's ghost climbed up on to the table.

The other scene was the when Ross went to speak with Lady Macduff before she got the warning. The setting was different and something new which I liked. I could easily tell where we were too. The other thing that stood out about this scene was how Lady Macduff had decided to run, even if she did not make up.

Macbeth actually joins in with the killing of Lady Macduff and her children. At least this time she chooses to run, even if she never makes it out of the door. What surprised me was how unlike in the play and in other film versions, Macbeth turns up too, ready to kill her and the others there.

To be honest I find this film a little quirky. I find it interesting though confusing too. It is not all bad as I was gripped from start to finish. Overall, I am going to give it a 6/10.


Until next time,


Thomas.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bookshops I have visited - 3: Oxfam Bookshop, Coventry.

Image
Welcome back to my blog everyone. It is that time of the month where I give you the ins and outs to another bookshop that I have recently been to. This time, it is the Oxfam Bookshop in Coventry city centre. When I was on my travels, I found myself in Coventry. Now having lived and studied in the West Midlands, I knew about this bookshop. Funnily enough this was not my first visit here. Just as I remembered, they have a nice range of books and music despite being on the slightly smaller side. I noticed they still had a little collection of Doctor Who stuff! I am a big Doctor Who fan. Anyway, as I went nosing around, there was one book that caught my eye. It was this book: Sculpted: Poetry of the North West  (2013) edited by Lindsey Holland and Angela Topping. There is an introduction by David Morley who I have read before as a poet, teacher and editor. The important thing here though is that I picked up a poetry book and April (in case you were unaware) is National Poetry Month! I ...
Read more

Bookshop visit 11: Lions Charity Bookshop, Hailsham.

Hi! Sorry for the delay in the blog post, the internet keeps playing up for me so I could not post yesterday when I planned to. For my blog post I am off on another bookshop visit. This time I found myself in the East Sussex of Hailsham where down Market Street in Hailsham. It is near North Street and High Street which is good for people visiting by bus or catching a train and then a bus to Hailsham as it has no train station itself. When you enter the bookshop it can come across as quite small. Despite this, I see the bookshop as small and mighty. You never know what you are going to get and that is what I like in a bookshop. Normally, it is fiction that I go for though they have some other stuff as well. I will say that if you want something specific then you cannot guarantee to get, though that often goes with a lot of second-hand bookshops. I must point as well that paperback books are priced at £1.20 which to me is a steal! Can you imagine wanting to get some Margaret Atwood books...
Read more

Fictional book review: Cat's Eye (1988) by Margaret Atwood.

Image
It's me again... Your favourite book reviewer back with another Margaret Atwood book to review. This time I thought I would tuck into Atwood's 1988 novel Cat's Eye . This novel is gripped with spectral memories of the narrator's past, it is a bildungsroman. A bildungsroman is just a novel that goes through a character's life, from being a child, to growing up as a young person to becoming an adult. Great Expectations  (1861) by Charles Dickens is another example. Anyway, the narrator, Elaine is haunted by Cordelia who I will not give too much about her away. This novel threw me, many times. We had Elaine and her various friends. First we were introduced to Carol, then Grace and finally Cordelia. But it is Cordelia, who's presence is felt throughout the novel. The thing is, I cannot understand why. Without giving too much away, Cordelia was hardly being nice to Elaine and I just expected that as Elaine grew up that she would move on; that she would not have Corde...
Read more