Romeo + Juliet (Blu-ray SteelBook) (Blufans Exclusive #28) [China]

AlamoSoul · Jun 17, 2015

Release date: December 2015
Print run: 500

C.C. 95 · Jun 19, 2015

augustus said:
@C.C. 95 I can see where you're coming from. I was always amused that this film was released with the title, "William Shakeaspeare's Romeo + Juliet". I always thought that the title, "Baz Luhrmann's .......... " would have been more appropriate.

As a product of the English education system, I spent five years in English Literature classes, studying and dissecting various Shakespeare plays, and I hated it. Only later, when I had experienced life outside of the classroom, did I begin to appreciate what all the fuss was about.

Key to that understanding, was seeing the plays performed, albeit in the classic movie adaptations of Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles and Franco Zeffirelli, as opposed to merely reading from the page.

The greatest of Shakespeare's plays are universal, in that they can be set anytime, anyplace, anywhere and still be equally effective, dealing as they do with the frailties of human nature. Added to which, is the absolute beauty of the language used, and it is the combination of these two factors which makes Shakespeare as relevant today, as he has ever been.

"Romeo and Juliet", with its tragic tale of the star crossed lovers, is probably the most universal story of them all, and one which everyone can relate to. "For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo." Its greatness even transcends Baz Luhrmann's wayward interpretation.

I can put up with the quirks, mentioned in your own post, as well as the updated setting, but the thing I found intolerable were the thick American accents of some of the cast, which rendered much of Shakespeare's verse incomprehensible to my ears. That's not to say that Americans can't do Shakespeare. Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey and Orson Welles have all demonstrated an affinity with the Bard.

The sole reason I still regularly revisit this film, is the impassioned performance of the young Leonardo DiCaprio. There's an intensity to his portrayal of Romeo which puts all the anachronisms of the movie to the back of one's mind.

So, in spite of my ambivalence towards this film, I welcome it getting a Blufans makeover, and would certainly get it for DiCaprio's moving performance.

For repeated viewing, however, I shall be sticking with Zeffirelli's version (1968) which, for me, has never been equalled.

Thanks,@augustus. I don't get irate about people not understanding Shakespeare. Sometimes it takes time. Certainly I didn't get it till I was older. There are a couple things that brought it to life for me.
First- I acted in Henry V on stage with Ian McKellen... :wow:

It is true!
...But i'm embellishing! Let me explain...
Back in the 80s Ian McKellen toured the U.S. with a show called 'McKellen on Shakespeare'. As luck would have it, his show came to Cleveland, Ohio- and my high school English class was lucky enough to go see it.
It was one of the most eye-opening shows ever. He basically broke down Shakespeare to its root element.
He basically said to us "guys- this is not that hard – you can understand this. Let me explain..."
And needless to say, I have understood and loved Shakespeare ever since.
The finale of the show was Sir Ian acting a scene from Henry V. He needed extras to come on stage with him to be soldiers. I was called up. He huddled us up and gave us direction- "when I say...You all die on my cue!"
And we did! And now I get to say, without lying- I performed Shakespeare on stage with Sir Ian McKellen!
That was the first of a One-Two Shakespeare punch...
The second punch being the 'out-of-nowhere' lightning bolt that was Kenneth Branagh's 1989 HENRY V.
Blew the doors off! (And I won't join an argument about Branagh's vs. Olivier's. I love both for different reasons). And I absolutely adored MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING too.
But McKellen was right. There is no special secret handshake, or decoder ring to open up Shakespeare.
And I agree that it is timeless and can transend time and place. I just find that sometimes modernized versions get too 'cute' with updates. (The 'swords' thing, for instance).
If memory serves, the Ethan Hawke HAMLET was not too bad. (DENMARK became a company instead of a country). In fact, one of my favorite movies is a play on Shakespeare. If you haven't seen ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD- you must!
I have not seen Zefferelli's ROMEO & JULIET in a loooong time- so maybe I should check it out again soon.
(I have NEVER seen his OTELLO- and I want to!)
I also love the National Theater Live movie theater showings. Such a great way for people to see Shakespeare on stage- even if it is in the theater! (Branagh's MACBETH was Awesome!)
But anything that gets younger viewers into Shakespeare is never a BAD thing!
I DO love it when I hear young lovers say "We are like Romeo & Juliet"...
...And I chuckle quietly to myself, thinking "You DO know they DIE in a tragic double suicide, right?!!"

augustus · Jun 19, 2015

C.C. 95 said:
Thanks,@augustus. I don't get irate about people not understanding Shakespeare. Sometimes it takes time. Certainly I didn't get it till I was older. There are a couple things that brought it to life for me.
First- I acted in Henry V on stage with Ian McKellen... It is true!
...But i'm embellishing! Let me explain...
Back in the 80s Ian McKellen toured the U.S. with a show called 'McKellen on Shakespeare'. As luck would have it, his show came to Cleveland, Ohio- and my high school English class was lucky enough to go see it.
It was one of the most eye-opening shows ever. He basically broke down Shakespeare to its root element.
He basically said to us "guys- this is not that hard – you can understand this. Let me explain..."
And needless to say, I have understood and loved Shakespeare ever since.
The finale of the show was Sir Ian acting a scene from Henry V. He needed extras to come on stage with him to be soldiers. I was called up. He huddled us up and gave us direction- "when I say...You all die on my cue!"
And we did! And now I get to say, without lying- I performed Shakespeare on stage with Sir Ian McKellen!
That was the first of a One-Two Shakespeare punch...
The second punch being the 'out-of-nowhere' lightning bolt that was Kenneth Branagh's 1989 HENRY V.
Blew the doors off! (And I won't join an argument about Branagh's vs. Olivier's. I love both for different reasons). And I absolutely adored MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING too.
But McKellen was right. There is no special secret handshake, or decoder ring to open up Shakespeare.
And I agree that it is timeless and can transend time and place. I just find that sometimes modernized versions get too 'cute' with updates. (The 'swords' thing, for instance).
If memory serves, the Ethan Hawke HAMLET was not too bad. (DENMARK became a company instead of a country). In fact, one of my favorite movies is a play on Shakespeare. If you haven't seen ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD- you must!
I have not seen Zefferelli's ROMEO & JULIET in a loooong time- so maybe I should check it out again soon.
(I have NEVER seen his OTELLO- and I want to!)
I also love the National Theater Live movie theater showings. Such a great way for people to see Shakespeare on stage- even if it is in the theater! (Branagh's MACBETH was Awesome!)
But anything that gets younger viewers into Shakespeare is never a BAD thing!
I DO love it when I hear young lovers say "We are like Romeo & Juliet"...
...And I chuckle quietly to myself, thinking "You DO know they DIE in a tragic double suicide, right?!!"

@C.C. 95 Very interesting. Your account of how you got into Shakespeare brought to mind a film I saw many years ago, "Renaissance Man" (1994), in which Danny Devito played an English teacher to a bunch of misfit US army recruits, which included Mark Wahlberg back in the days when he was still known as Marky Mark. DeVito's character uses Shakespeare's "Hamlet" as a teaching tool but it's a staged production of "Henry V" that they go to see performed. I imagine that you've probably seen this movie already, if not I'd commend it to you.

Yes, there are a number of films about Shakespeare's plays that are as diverse and entertaining as the plays themselves, from Vincent Price in "Theatre of Blood" (1973), taking in Al Pacino's "Looking for Richard" (1996) and John Madden's "Shakespeare in Love" (1998), to Roland Emmerich's "Anonymous" (2011).

You will be aware that Boris Pasternak, the author of "Doctor Zhivago", translated a number of Shakespeare's plays into Russian. Two of those works were later filmed by the great director, Grigori Kozintsev, "Hamlet" (1964) and "King Lear" (1971). If you're interested in trying something different and are not averse to hearing Shakespeare performed in a foreign language, give these a viewing. Both come highly acclaimed and Laurence Olivier publicly stated that this "Hamlet" was better than his own version. If you've already seen them, I apologise for being presumptuous.

Anyway, back on topic, "Romeo and Juliet". The new version directed by Carlo Carlei (2013) is also worth viewing but it's not for purists, due to Julian Fellowes tampering with the screenplay. Some wits have also drawn attention to the fact that in this version, you have a Romeo who is prettier than his Juliet. On the plus side, Douglas Booth makes for an ardent Romeo but Hailee Steinfeld disappoints as Juliet. It's a lavish production with Renaissance Italy vividly to the fore but ultimately, the Zeffirelli version (1968) remains supreme.

C.C. 95 · Jun 19, 2015

augustus said:
@C.C. 95 Very interesting. Your account of how you got into Shakespeare brought to mind a film I saw many years ago, "Renaissance Man" (1994), in which Danny Devito played an English teacher to a bunch of misfit US army recruits, which included Mark Wahlberg back in the days when he was still known as Marky Mark. DeVito's character uses Shakespeare's "Hamlet" as a teaching tool but it's a staged production of "Henry V" that they go to see performed. I imagine that you've probably seen this movie already, if not I'd commend it to you.

Yes, there are a number of films about Shakespeare's plays that are as diverse and entertaining as the plays themselves, from Vincent Price in "Theatre of Blood" (1973), taking in Al Pacino's "Looking for Richard" (1996) and John Madden's "Shakespeare in Love" (1998), to Roland Emmerich's "Anonymous" (2011).

You will be aware that Boris Pasternak, the author of "Doctor Zhivago", translated a number of Shakespeare's plays into Russian. Two of those works were later filmed by the great director, Grigori Kozintsev, "Hamlet" (1964) and "King Lear" (1971). If you're interested in trying something different and are not averse to hearing Shakespeare performed in a foreign language, give these a viewing. Both come highly acclaimed and Laurence Olivier publicly stated that this "Hamlet" was better than his own version. If you've already seen them, I apologise for being presumptuous.

Anyway, back on topic, "Romeo and Juliet". The new version directed by Carlo Carlei (2013) is also worth viewing but it's not for purists, due to Julian Fellowes tampering with the screenplay. Some wits have also drawn attention to the fact that in this version, you have a Romeo who is prettier than his Juliet. On the plus side, Douglas Booth makes for an ardent Romeo but Hailee Steinfeld disappoints as Juliet. It's a lavish production with Renaissance Italy vividly to the fore but ultimately, the Zeffirelli version (1968) remains supreme.

@augustus,
Yeah, I vaguely remember Renaisannce Man. I remember that they sent it BACK into theaters a second time with the title BY THE BOOK months after the first run. That was the first time I had ever seen that done or since. (I thought at first it was just the Alternate European title). I can't honestly say that I saw it. In my memory I'm getting it jumbled up with Cadence and Sergeant Bilko!
The other films you mentioned about Shakespeare plays I do like. Especially 'Looking for Richard' & 'Shakespeare in Love'. The latter gets so much crap because it a) had Ben Affleck (who I am no fan of) and b) beat Saving Private Ryan for best picture. But I had zero problem with it winning best picture as I thought it was another fantastic piece of writing by my man Tom Stoppard (from the aforementioned Rosencrantz & Guildenstern).
The foreign Shakespeare movies you mentioned I am wholly unfamiliar with. I will have to check them out. That should probably be very interesting!
And you blew my mind mentioning this new Romeo and Juliet. Why? Because I remember back in the 90s everybody was high on this new director who did this film called 'Flight of The Innocent' (a really great flick).
He had so much goodwill that Hollywood gave him Carte Blanche for a movie. He decided to do is dream picture… Which ended up being the movie 'Fluke' with Matthew Modine. Well that movie didn't set the world on fire, and that was the last I heard of him until you mentioned him just now! Interesting. (Carlo Carlei)
An interesting note on Zeffirelli: I watched the movie 'Electric Boogaloo' about Canon films back in the 80s and 90s. Of course they mainly did dreck, but they did finance a couple of things that were great (like Andre Konchalovsky's 'Runaway Train' and Barbet Schroeder's 'Barfly'). Also among the dreck they bankrolled Zeffirelli's 'Otello', his film version of the Verdi Opera. And in this contemporary interview, Zeffirelli says it is the best thing he has ever done! I am keen to see it because it looks gorgeous, and I like that opera. (Yep, I like opera. Not ALL opera. Just good ones! And that is all Zeffirelli does anymore is direct opera).
Also, there is a great wealth of BBC productions of Shakespeare available. One of my favorites is a 1980 production 'Hamlet, Prince of Denmark' with Derek Jacobi as Hamlet, Claire Bloom as Gertrude and Patrick Stewart (with Hair!) as Claudius. And of course I have to mention Kenneth Branagh's epic complete Hamlet in 70mm!
(Although I still don't understand how Branagh gets a screenplay credit when the conceit of the film is that it is the whole unabridged text!!)
What a freakin gorgeous picture that is.
Currently, the guy who did the Ethan Hawke modern Hamlet film, released 'Cymbaline' - a modern Shakespeare with Ed Harris, Ethan Hawke, Milla Jovavich & John Leguizamo. I'm not familiar with that nor have I seen the movie. But I know it just came out last year.
And of course, we are all waiting with bated breath for this Branagh 'Macbeth' directed by Scorsese!
( I heard it might be a documentary style picture about how they mounted that production, but I hope those reports are wrong, and it is actually the play...). If you didn't catch the National Theatre Live Branagh Macbeth, it is out there to be had if you are industrious. (It played on Public television- so obviously people dubbed it).

littleprince32 · Jun 22, 2015

Confirmed as Romeo and Juliet. Print run of 2000.

naelst · Jun 22, 2015

Definitely getting this!

RomanCH · Jun 23, 2015

Nice !!!

psychoscot · Jun 28, 2015

AWESOME news, so in for this! Hope we will get a GB in this one. Don't own it on bluray yet just laserdisc! :cool:

Aw 83 · Jun 28, 2015

Happy to stick with my iron pack,but probably consider this to as it will sit nicely next to it...

Metasyntactic · Jun 30, 2015

littleprince32 said:
it's among the best Shakespeare-based films ever made.

Boom.

Im with you. So much hate for Leo. This movie is beautiful in every aspect.

Music
Script
Claire Danes

boldnerd · Jul 1, 2015

Love this film, love Shakespeare, fo def will be getting this! And massive thanks to @c-c-95 and @augustus for very interesting info on Shakespeare in films

C.C. 95 · Jul 1, 2015

boldnerd said:
Love this film, love Shakespeare, fo def will be getting this! And massive thanks to @c-c-95 and @augustus for very interesting info on Shakespeare in films

You bet!

Somehow in there, I think we forgot Richard Loncraine's great film adaptation of RICHARD III with Ian McKellen based on the West End theater production.
(Actually, I'm sure we are forgetting a lot of other great ones!)

boldnerd · Jul 2, 2015

C.C. 95 said:
(Actually, I'm sure we are forgetting a lot of other great ones!)

I personally quite like the recent version of Hamlet with David Tennant and Patrick Steward. Having seen it live in theatre a couple of times, I can honestly say this version is pretty good in transferring raw emotions of the live performance to screen.

C.C. 95 · Jul 2, 2015

boldnerd said:
I personally quite like the recent version of Hamlet with David Tennant and Patrick Steward. Having seen it live in theatre a couple of times, I can honestly say this version is pretty good in transferring raw emotions of the live performance to screen.

You saw it live?!! Lucky duck! :thumbs:

(Do you mean with those actors or just the play?)

boldnerd · Jul 2, 2015

C.C. 95 said:
You saw it live?!! Lucky duck! (Do you mean with those actors or just the play?)

Twice with these actors, Hamlet with other actors ... quite a few times

I am a bit of a theatre nut, sorry :angel:

C.C. 95 · Jul 2, 2015

boldnerd said:
Twice with these actors, Hamlet with other actors ... quite a few times I am a bit of a theatre nut, sorry

Don't be! I'm jealous! Thank god for National Theater Live Stuff for the rest of us! I haven't been to either the West End or Broadway in 20 plus years. I actually would have shelled out BIG bucks if I even had a shot at seeing Branagh's Macbeth in NYC. (I had no idea it was on its way when it happened...and I think tickets sold out before you could bat an eyelash anyway.)
Would have loved to have seen McKellen and Stewart do 'Waiting For Godot' too....

boldnerd · Jul 2, 2015

C.C. 95 said:
Don't be! I'm jealous! Thank god for National Theater Live Stuff for the rest of us! I haven't been to either the West End or Broadway in 20 plus years. I actually would have shelled out BIG bucks if I even had a shot at seeing Branagh's Macbeth in NYC. (I had no idea it was on its way when it happened...and I think tickets sold out before you could bat an eyelash anyway.)
Would have loved to have seen McKellen and Stewart do 'Waiting For Godot' too....

Missed that one too, unfortunately. And Branagh's Macbeth was really mind-blowing, seen it at Manchester theatre festival, same version they showed on NT Live.

Trying to keep it on subject of Romeo and Juliet

Sir ken is doing his version of Romeo and Juliet, a full season at Garrick theatre if you are in London at the end of thsi year or next summer.