I watched half of Baz Luhrman’s “William Shakespeare’s Rome + Juliet” last night. And although the film was excellently shot and produced, it couldn’t get me past one thing… Shakespeare. What the f##k is he going on about? There are many beautiful lines in Romeo + Juliet and these are amplified by the context of the actors in the film and Baz Luhrman’s interpretations, but on the whole I just can’t keep with the plot.
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Romeo: Has my heart loved ’till now? Forswear it, sight! For I never saw a true beauty ’till this night
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Juliet:
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy
—
Juliet: What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
—
Actually, reading Shakespeare is at least easier.
I’ve never really got into Shakespeare, although I like many of the reinterpretations, and Mel Gibson’s Hamlet is about the best that stay close to the original narrative, I just get lost in the text; I just don’t understand it!
I guess I would have enjoyed the film had it ditched the original text.
Romeo & Juliet, Baz Luhrman, Shakespeare, Romeo + Juliet, Mel Gibson, HamletShakespeare, Romeo + Juliet, Baz Luhrman, Mel Gibson, Hamlet