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Apple TV +: Denzel Washington plays Macbeth

2021-12-23T12:49:11.424Z


Apple TV +: Denzel Washington plays Macbeth Created: 12/23/2021 Updated: 12/23/2021, 1:38 PM From: Michael Schleicher Denzel Washington plays Macbeth in the film adaptation of the Shakespearean drama by Joel Coen for Apple TV +. © Alison Rosa / Apple TV + Denzel Washington plays Macbeth. Director Joel Coen filmed Shakespeare's tragedy for the streaming service Apple TV. His film will be in the


Apple TV +: Denzel Washington plays Macbeth

Created: 12/23/2021 Updated: 12/23/2021, 1:38 PM

From: Michael Schleicher

Denzel Washington plays Macbeth in the film adaptation of the Shakespearean drama by Joel Coen for Apple TV +.

© Alison Rosa / Apple TV +

Denzel Washington plays Macbeth.

Director Joel Coen filmed Shakespeare's tragedy for the streaming service Apple TV.

His film will be in the cinemas at Christmas.

Our criticism:

This is a war without a battle. A cruel fight that takes place primarily in words, in the conversations between opponents and allies. Joel Coen filmed Shakespeare's “Macbeth”, the tragedy that was first printed in 1623 and tells of the rapid rise of the title character to the King of Scotland and of its end. The production is the first that Joel Coen has realized without his brother and creative sparring partner Ethan. Together, the duo enriched film history with such fabulous works as "Barton Fink" (1991), "Fargo" (1996, an Oscar), "The Big Lebowski" (1998) or "No Country for old Men" (2007, three Oscars). But Joel Coen has now also achieved impressive work in solo. His “Macbeth” will be in theaters on December 25, 2021 and will be on Apple TV + from January 14, 2022.“Macbeth” can currently be seen on stage at the Munich Volkstheater.

Apple TV + shows “Macbeth” as a black and white drama

67-year-old Coen chooses a highly stylized approach to Shakespeare's drama, which premiered in London in 1606.

His “Macbeth” is shot in black and white, and Coen also uses an almost square section of the image, as is known from the silent film era.

The way it is made, the work announces that closed world in which Macbeth and his lady move - in which they are ultimately trapped.

The tragedy has been adapted for the cinema several times, by directors such as Orson Welles (1948), Akira Kurosawa (1957) and Roman Polanski (1971). Most recently, Justin Kurzel brought his interpretation of the material to the screen. In 2015 he showed the war as the father of all being, to make it clear how Macbeth became what he is: a traumatized man, driven mad, a psychological wreck. At that time Michael Fassbender designed a man who will never get rid of the fight of his Scots against the Norwegians from the beginning or all other wars.

Coen, his main actor Denzel Washington and his wife Frances McDormand in the role of Lady Macbeth now encounter the story of that general, whom witches prophesy that he will become king, and who subsequently usurps the throne through murder: You put language at the center of the film;

the original version will be released with subtitles.

Shakespeare's verses are only minimally shortened here - and unfold an enormous force.

This is reinforced by the clever work of Bruno Delbonnel, who guides the camera very calmly, which, by the way, also differs from Kurzel's approach: The long shots in Coen's “Macbeth” underline the artificial, nightmarish character of the story and leave room for the words to unfold their brutality.

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand convince in the leading roles

Especially at the beginning Delbonnel shows the speakers in half-length pictures - until Macbeth decides to use force to get what he was prophesied. When he steps towards the murder of King Duncan, the camera clearly leaves its previously preferred setting for the first time and follows Denzel Washington's legs on the way to the ruler's apartments. Coen will choose a similar excerpt later when Lady Macbeth tries to save her soul by suicide.

The title character's first crime, this act, which is the cornerstone of the inner prison from which the tyrant will not be able to escape, also becomes the leitmotif on the soundtrack: Macbeth's steps henceforth set the rhythm of the film. The audience encounters their roar again and again - for example when the blood drips from Duncan's wounds, also when the army gathers in the forest of Birnam against Macbeth or when he wanders through his castle close to madness. A castle, by the way, which is of almost clinical purity - nothing here tells of the crimes and cruelty of its inhabitants. This can be found almost exclusively in Shakespeare's words and in the rhythm of the deeds: The noise that Macbeth made on the way to the first murder will accompany him into his downfall. With brutal precision. Incorruptible. But especially:inevitable.

Source: merkur

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