The Tragedy of Macbeth * * * * ½

Should have reviewed it months ago.  Should have seen it months ago. I don't know what happened. Other fine films got in the way - I mean. I had to watch Moonfall and Jackass etc.  

Seriously, a more acceptable excuse is that it's not showing in many places, so the opportunities to see it were few.  Anyway I caught it today.

Despite the obvious fact that Will and I have similar literary skills, I have to admit I'm not a Shakespeare scholar. I'm not a scholar in anything to to be honest ("No shit", I hear you say), but I know what I like, and holy crap this is good! 

Don't worry. It's a tale review told
by an idiot....signifying nothing.

Every actor has thoroughly internalized their role. They are absolute flesh and blood.  There is not a speech or annunciation where the actors gets lost in the demanding dialogue or seduced by its beauty and profundity.  No one shouts their way through this or rolls their eyes or shakes their head from side to side, or puts an exclamation mark at the end of every sentence, pretending to deliver Shakespeare's extraordinary dialogue with meaning, whilst they don't actually know what the heck they are saying.  (How many times have you had to endure that!?)

In this production Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth are not the young ambitious pair, so much as an older couple who are weary of waiting for their reward. Their patience is at end. They are ready to murder for what they want.  Two actors in their sixties, Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand superbly play the lead roles.

The restrained sets are like their marriage.  As much as their lives are absent of offspring, the sets are absent of furnishing and decoration.  It's like an architect designed castle waiting to be furnished. Yet it's emptiness is beautiful and allow exquisite black and white imagery.  

Directed by Joel Coen It's the best commitment of Shakespeare to the Screen I have ever seen. Not only is it lucid, but it is accessible. More so than any modern adaptation or time-shifted version.  More so than any production with real castles and moats and a cast of a thousand extras.  

It's a perfect synthesis between cinema and stage