On Titus

[adiva_calandia]

. . . Julie Taymor, man.

Comments

[agoodshinkickin.livejournal.com]

In my opinion good Shakespeare is when I know what's going on without having to ask someone. And this movie?

Taymor gives good Shakespeare.

[adiva_calandia]

Oh, 100% agreed! It's fantastic Shakespeare, and very accessible.

Just, you know. I thought those animated collage sequences Full Of Symbolism she does were an Across the Universe thing, where they kinda made sense with a bunch of characters on drugs. BUT NO. Blue tinted rapists and tigers and deer, oh my!

At least there were no giant puppets, as far as I saw.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

HI CHIRON, I'M IN A PIE!!


Angus Macfadyen is TEH SMEX.

[adiva_calandia]

I didn't get to the pie scene. D: I stopped shortly after Lavinia names her attackers. (Way to not think of that WRITING thing sooner, Andronici, by the way. Come on, man!)

Dude, that entire cast is teh s3x. Whoever decreed that Alan Cumming should spend the rest of his career in huge leather coats is all right in my book.

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

Alas, the only thing I have seen by her is Frida. The "alas" has more to do with the "poor little artist girl!" script and the overall "OH HAY LOOK AT ALL MY FAMOUS FRIENDS"ishness -- hell, "THIS IS MY PET PROJECT IT'S V IMPORTANT LOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111"ishness of the film than it does the direction.

[adiva_calandia]

She's JULIE TAYMOR, BITCH. YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE.

That's the point of the giant puppets, really -- so that you can't ignore her.

But, I mean, she's may be in-bloody-sane and the queen of unsubtle spectacle, but she has a very strong artistic vision, and must be one of the best large-scale choreographers that American theatre has produced in the last twenty years or so. That's one of the things Titus and Across the Universe really showcase.

I cannot, alas, comment specifically on Frida, though.

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

I...wouldn't reccomend Frida. The THIS R MY PET PROJECT!!!NESS bestowed upon it by Salma Hayek overwrites any artistic flair Taymor may put into it.

But I aaaaam interested in Titus. (Across the Universe? Erm. Give me a year?)

[adiva_calandia]

Titus is really, really good. Like ms_ntropy said: it's good Shakespeare. And having suffered through an appalling BBC Henry IV last night, I can really appreciate good Shakespeare.

(If you go into Across the Universe with the attitude of admiring the Beatles' covers and the visual spectacle and Joe Anderson *cough*, you'll enjoy it a whole hell of a lot more than if you go in expecting any kind of, you know. Structure. But even then, it's not for everyone.)

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

I will say that Frida has some AWESOME MUSIC.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend Frida, in counter to the above. It's mandatory viewing as a piece on its own, regardless of the subject matter.

[newredshoes]

Dude, yes. (It's Jessica Lange's Tamora I think of when I think of SPN!Tamara.)

I can't tell you how much I want to see The Lion King, even if my professional theater friends scoff at it.

[adiva_calandia]

(. . . Well that's kind of scarily appropriate. Dead kid + hardon for revenge?)

My professional theater friends scoff at Cats, and even I'll admit that's pointless pretty fluff. Compared to that, Lion King is . . . well, Hamlet. >.>

[weaverandom.livejournal.com]

*agrees solidly*

Seneca with dodgy special effects. And yet. And yet.

[adiva_calandia]

It's AMAZING.

It's just.

Oh, Julie Taymor.

[tropes.livejournal.com]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

[adiva_calandia]

The STICKS IN HER STUMPS. O.o NGEWW.

Julie Taymor, you crazy.

[tropes.livejournal.com]

It is the best Shakespeare movie evar. I love it.

[adiva_calandia]

*snickers* Yes. I feel sorry for people who get introduced to performed Shakespeare by it, though.

Have you seen McKellan's Richard III? Also awesome, in many of the same "Let's have some crazy stylized anachronisms!" ways that I like so much in Titus.

Also, Jim Broadbent as Buckingham. Massive awesome.

[tropes.livejournal.com]

I saw it many years ago -- maybe even a full decade. But I remember loving it. :D