Romeo and juliet kissing scene in pool

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Sheila Campbell

ENG 225 Introduction to Film

Instructor: Michael Cooper

01/21/2012

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was an amazing film. The cinematography was amazing. They made the sets look like it was in the present not the past. The beginning of the film started with, "Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene. From ancient grudge break to new mutiny where civil blood make civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star crossed lovers who take their life" (Universal, 1996). The costumes and makeup was very awesome and colorful.

When I first saw the film in the movie theatre it was amazing. I thought it was crazy how they stated the film off. All I heard was a static coming from the screen as it interrupted the beginning of the movie. I kind of freaked out and believed the report emergency report was real. The reporter began to reporting a tragedy that had recently happened in some place called Verona.

I began watching the special report and I realized it was part of the movie and the producer tricked everyone in the theatre. I thought it was an neat trick to do. We as humans are trained to believe what we see on the TV. The right after the newscast you hear the sound of the sound of crying, chorusing angels screaming angry chants echoed around the theater (great surround sound effect). Images (clips from the movie) flashed sporadically on the screen. The movie also had images from the movie.

The movie had a dark sinister voice which retold Shakespeare’s prologue which gave the telecast of the moment before. The sounds were from screaming angels then it got silent. There were sounds from a big truck flashing on the screen which gave a hearty engine growl. The truck then began to speed loudly down the road. There were electric guitars and booming drums bumping a loud vengeful beat as well. Then it began to show the Montague boys that took the scene. They were standing up in the back of a truck waving their guns while shouting loudly. I was already hooked to the movie from the moment I seen the special report. The music defiantly lured people in as well. It gave the scene some life and it helped the scene give life to the music.

This movie was about two star crossed lovers who fell in love and were always meant to be together. They were forbidden to see each other so they decided to take another route in life. This film also had a lot of action and love scenes in it as well.. the characters were played by Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio0 and Juliet ( Claire Danes). They both knew how to play the characters and they made the film very interesting to watch.. This Romeo and Juliet version was based on the present time not the past.

Brian Johnson said the version of Romeo and Juliet as "just the kind of movie Shakespeare might have made if he were around today." Maclean decided to interview Baz Luhrmann on how he got a directorial accomplishment in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. "What people forget is that Shakespeare was a relentless entertainer.(Luhrmann) When he played the Elizabethan stage, he was basically dealing with an audience of 3,000 drunken punters who were selling pigs and geese in the stalls. He played to everyone. . . . And his style was to have stand-up comedy one moment, a song and then the highest tragedy right next to it. He was a rambunctious, sexy, violent, entertaining story teller, and we've tried to be all these things" (qtd. Johnson).

The film highly credits the dialogue, the special effects, the setting, and the acting. It does point out the things. One thing it did point out was like how and Juliet's father looking like a Mafia mobster, and Mercutio being a black transvestite. The film uses the episodes as strong contributors to a fabulous movie.

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I could not agree more. These strange effects Luhrmann creates in this movie serve only to make it better. It makes it not only interesting, but fun and enjoyable as well. The use of the original play script is remarkable. It would not have been possible to do so pleasingly without the use of special effects. I am still amazed at the sheer genius of the director in creating such effects. I could read the play ten times and not come out with half the understanding, or enjoyment, this movie gave me.

Some of the effects include the use of clever camera angles, techniques used during dialogue, and the play on words. Through camera shots, emotion was added to the scenes. Close ups of eyes and guns during gang scenes, cameras moving in slow circles around Romeo and Juliet's kissing scenes, and, above all, an aerial shot of the death scene. Johnson states in his review that "with Luhrmann filming their love scene in lingering close-ups, they kiss and kiss as only young lovers do" (Johnson).

During dialogue simple things like Benvolio and Romeo playing pool while talking about Romeo's broken heart made it somehow easier to understand Shakespeare--it merely sounded like guy talk. It was the same when Juliet's mother spoke with her in her chambers about love and marriage. It did not sound complicated and jumbled up, merely a conversation between mother and daughter.

Donald Lyons begins his article by claiming "it is foolish to say Shakespeare's "works" better on the big screen than in the theater." He says, "(even though) those knotty iambic pentameters can be spoken softly, and hence understood: soliloquies can be rendered as voice overs, and hence made dramatically plausible. Baz Luhrmann's (director) version of Romeo and Juliet (turned out to be) a hip-hop, MTV quick-cut movie." Lyons blasts the movie because the sound effects in the film were heard more loudly than the Shakespearean verses. He adds the text was "more often than not drowned out by visual and aural static: jump cuts, purple twilights, underwater love scenes, gang weaponry, and Romeo's LSD trips." (Lyons)

However, an opposing review from U.S. News and World Report holds that the actor's intonations and facial expressions help with the understanding of the story. Other helping aids are the costumes, scenery, and the action. It credits the two leading roles, Claire Danes (Juliet) and Leonardo DiCaprio (Romeo) with a "valiant effort" playing their roles (Streisand).

I agree with this completely, if not for the director's casting of two actors that could effectively render such perfect intonations and facial expressions, there would be no point to a modern day remake. After all, was not all the idealic imagery and action the sole purpose to making this movie play to the everyday movie goer? Of course. Also, the fact Luhrmann chose such young actors (Danes, 17; DiCaprio, 21) gave yet a more believable and enjoyable screenplay.

My favorite example of a dialogue technique takes place during Romeo and Juliet's love confession scene. It didn't sound like long-winded sappy poems of passion and love. Rather they were splashing about and kissing in a moon lit pool. It looked and sounded just the way it should have, two teenagers completely head over heels for each other. It felt real; it looked believable.

Finally, the play on words is something to get excited about. Swords and daggers in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet are guns with Sword 9 mm or Dagger 9 mm engraved on the barrel. When Romeo's father calls out, "Hand me my long sword!" he is talking about a rifle. Another use of figurative language is the word gold. Romeo, buying the deadly poison, pays the man with a wad of cash while keeping to the script, "Here is your gold."

A review discussing some of these aspects starts off by telling how William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a "90's gangland" remake of the classic love story written nearly four centuries ago. The article quotes Norrie Epstein, author of The Friendly Shakespeare, "Although he (Shakespeare) is perceived as a highbrow, Shakespeare wrote for the masses- and they knew how to enjoy him. Go-and forget those teachers who preached that you must understand every 'thee,' 'thou,' and 'my liege.' Neophytes won't pick up every nuance, but the main ideas will be easy to grasp. With a movie there is virtually no escaping the big picture."

Ms. Epstein is exactly correct. What is the point of studying every word or stanza to death? Shakespeare would not have wanted it that way. His purpose was to entertain--give his audience a chuckle or a tear. The fact that visually a gun appeared while hearing "sword" or rolls of hundred dollar bills while hearing "gold," is only to play to the masses, just as Shakespeare would have done himself if he were the director of this modern day remake.

In conclusion, I find William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was an awesome film. It showed how Baz Luhrmanns directional ability how to direct an film. It also showed how to people who cannot be together will eventually find a way no matter what it takes to be together. I cried at the end of this movie because it was so sad how they died. This film produced so well if Shakespeare was alive he would be proud to see his story touch so many lives in a positive way in the twenty-first century.

References

Streisand, Betsy. "Looking for Mr. Good Bard this fall." U.S. News and World Report. 11 Nov. 1996. (5 May 1997).

Lyons, Donald. "Lights, Camera, Shakespeare." Commentary. Feb. 1997. (5 May 1997).

Rozen, Leah. "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet." People Weekly. 11 Nov. 1996. (5 May 1997).

Johnson, Brian D. "Souping up the Bard." Maclean's. 11 Nov. 1996. (5 May 1997).

Luhrmann, Baz, dir. William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. With Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes. Universal Pictures Production, 1960.