Titus Andronicus

[hotpie]

If you are the kind of person who loves a complicated movie, Titus has what you are looking for. It's Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange at their best in this take at Shakespear's first play, Titus.

Bloody revenge, dismemberment, rape, feigned madness, cannibalism: what more could you want out of a movie?

Hopkins plays Titus, a Roman general returning from campaigns and war, finding that the emperor is dead. Wanting only to retire in peace, he refuses the people's election to make him their new emperor.

I highly recommend this!

[kappaloo]

Oh god I hated this movie. Every time it faded to black, I kept wishing "please end please end please end" and then it would fade back up into a new scene and I would want to cry. I'm a fan of Shakespeare - I've even enjoyed this play, but this movie just made my skin crawl and it was far too long. Blah!

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by hotpie
If you are the kind of person who loves a complicated movie, Titus has what you are looking for. It's Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange at their best in this take at Shakespear's first play, Titus.

Bloody revenge, dismemberment, rape, feigned madness, cannibalism: what more could you want out of a movie?

Hopkins plays Titus, a Roman general returning from campaigns and war, finding that the emperor is dead. Wanting only to retire in peace, he refuses the people's election to make him their new emperor.

I highly recommend this!

This is a terrible adaptation of the work. Sorry.

[Lady Pi Phi]

I wanted to see this.

I think the worst adaptation of a Shakespearian play is Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet.

[hotpie]

Wow, I guess I'm one of the few who could appreciate this stylized version of Shakespear's first play.
Maybe you should say what you disliked instead of just saying it was a bad adaptation... is there some point you are trying to make?

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by hotpie
Wow, I guess I'm one of the few who could appreciate this stylized version of Shakespear's first play.
Maybe you should say what you disliked instead of just saying it was a bad adaptation... is there some point you are trying to make?

-"stylized" is code for "really bizarre interludes that are inconsistant with stage instructions included in the original" . . . it's a heroin nightmare at points, and a low-budget-feeling one at that

-I don't find the acting all that impressive (better than most of the branaugh versions, however)

-the over-the-top attempts to 'shock' the viewer, while similar to shakespeare's actual play's impact (although NOT the intent), become more like schlock, including a serialized, pulp-novel rendition of the final scene

-however, i did like the inference of suicide/sepuku/whatever the fuck he put in that final scene . . . however I've not a clue where he got that, it's not shown in any other materials i've ever studied

-and so on, and so on

So yeah - you can act like I just lack the capability of appreciating the work, but just 18 short months ago I spent time working on a comparison/contrast piece for a professor about this exact movie and the original work.

I personally find it to be a terrible, terrible adaptation. Should I expound further? It's cool you liked it, it's definitely different, but I was unimpressed.

How did you like the original piece? Which version of the original did you read?