Macbeth

Even in Macbeth, Justin Kurzel can indulge in what fascinated him in Snowtown - a moral vacuum that arises around extremely ambivalent characters, torn apart by violence and manipulation. Of course, in collaboration with Adam Arkapaw, he powerfully uses the rugged Scottish landscape as a mirror of the inhospitable interior of the two main actors, who (filmed mainly in relentless detail) form the magnetizing center of the adaptation. The Macbeth couple and their gradual decline into madness usurps almost all of the space, and if the actor doesn't have the talent to play in a small area with a fascinating intensity like Sean Harris, he's out of luck. It's not a bad thing, because Fassbender and Cotillard act with an intensity that easily withstands the uncompromising choice of detail and faithfulness to the original’s language, although the strongest moment is when Macbeth sheds a “tear of madness" in the middle of a wordless scene. Kurzel chooses a gloomy, very slow tempo, which in the middle finds itself in the stereotypical arrangements of monologues / protagonist dialogues (an obvious screenplay defect), but for most of the rest of the runtime, it is only thanks to the fascinating interplay of Arkapaw's eye and the ears of Justin's brother-composer Jed that the film holds a very intense charge. The battle scenes are on the verge of Refnov mannerism, but for me they fit into the overall tone of "naturalistic lyricism". Yes, Branagh's blasé attitude breaks under the dictates of darkness, and even the BBC cycle The Crown feels airy compared to Kurzel's adaptation. In some ways, Macbeth is very close to the controversial but captivating adaptation of Andrey Arnold's Wuthering Heights. He also seeks in the classics the forgotten taste of blood, the smell of sweat and the slime of mud. And he won me over. [80%] (23/10/2015)

A completely honest artistic ego-stroking affair that benefits from the great camera and focuses predominantly on silence. On top of that, the movie, with its look and approach to storytelling, reminded me of Valhalla Rising, which also pretends to be this epic, but in reality, you are just watching an overdressed nothing. On the other hand, I get that the creators set out to do a very unusual form of Macbeth. They wanted to be different and so they added an artistic cinematic touch to the classic Shakespearean ornate speech, which didn’t really sit well with me. I don’t know, if a specific number of falling-asleep scenes is the proof of quality art, but I feel that the more there are, the better it is for the fans. It is, indisputably, interesting, but I prefer more classic motives with historic dramas. (01/06/2016)

A raw and bleak hypnotic film that will forever remain out of the mainstream. Audience-averse and psychedelic, the film lyrically tells the story of Shakepeare's warrior exclusively through breathtaking cinematography, lighting and period music. Forget about a wartime historical spectacle or crowd scenes, the Kurzel brothers have gone all out. There are only a few action scenes, and most of them are shrouded in a mysterious misty shroud, or thanks to the aforementioned lighting work that creates countless breathtaking shots. The individuality of this film is impossible to deny. What is debatable, however, is to what extent this is an appropriate form of presentation of Shakespeare's legend, as in many aspects of the plot and in terms of the flow of the story, it is questionable to say the least and difficult to digest. (08/11/2015)

Sociopaths of the verbal type (the multiple species among us) won't appreciate this film, of course; it is only for sensitive people able to cherish the celluloid language called film that takes you back to a time when stories where still told with pictures without making artistic compromises. Here, the trump card is the modest production design. It’s not about large crowds and lavish sets, but about compositions and atmosphere. In that respect, I particularly enjoyed the first half fantastically, up to the point where Macbeth is made king. The visual aspect is so unique that it doesn't really matter if the source material was written by Shakespeare or another theatrical titan. I'm genuinely curious about Assassins Creed now, because Kurzel's cinematic language is completely incompatible with the game poetics of an assassin running on rooftops and jumping into haystacks. (08/06/2016)

I can't help it, but if I hadn't seen this movie first, it probably wouldn't compel me to watch Shakespeare's tragedies at the theater. It has everything that this play should have, but at the same time, it's unbelievably audience-unfriendly, so I didn't enjoy watching it, despite the presence of my favorite actors. (21/02/2016)