TNL Movie Club: Titus

[The_Meach]

Movie Club, I give you the most interesting adaptation of Shakespeare ever:


I'm choosing this movie for a variety of reasons.

First, I think it is a relative unknown. Obviously, the Movie IQ of TNL being what it is, many of you have already seen this and are well aware of Anthony Hopkins' involvement. But it is not the type of movie that is brought up when talking about "special" (read: great) movies these days. It should be.

The second reason is that it is Shakespeare. Since he's the most influential playwright of the last 500 years, we should have one of his movies in the Club. Shakespeare has often been the subject of major Hollywood releases, some of which have actually been fun (Much Ado About Nothing). And although this adaptation is not the greatest cinematic treatment of one of his plays, it is certainly the most interesting.

Why? Well, there have been many modern takes on Sh. and we're all familiar with the stylized Romeo + Juliet. But whereas that movie seemed, perhaps because it was so new (or perhaps because it was the most overrated of his plays), forced as Baz Luhrmann was overly enchanted with his own cleverness, Titus is smooth, controlled and, because of this, disturbing.

It's meant to be, of course, and a lot of this is due to the choice of scenery (does it get any more stylishly scary than fascism?). I don't want to take anything away from the performances (which are very, very good) but, for me, the movie excels when it indulges in vibrant colors and contrast (see: the forest scene or Alan Cumming on the steps with the flags behind him). This contrast is not limited to visual representations. If you'll forgive the pun, Anthony Hopkins is more scary here than he ever was a cannibal. Ha!

So.

Go rent this.

And come back with something interesting to say.

[Rumpy]

Nice pick, I'll be adding this to my list.

[Dolemite]

Finally, something that everyone hasn't seem 1000 times. The last few movie club picks have been very mainstream.

I've been wanting to see this for a long time. Guess this is as good a reason as any to finally check it out.

[jackbag]

One of my good friends has been trying to get me to watch this for years, pretty much since it came out. I don't really know why I've never gotten around to it...