ROMEO + JULIET
1996 OUT 12 FEBRUARY CINEMAS
Young hearts, re-released.
From Ian McKellen’s Richard III to Kenneth Branagh’s starry, slavish adaps (Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet et al) the ’90s was a strong decade for Shakespearean cinema. Twenty-five years on, though, it is Baz Luhrmann’s radical take on the Bard’s romantic tragedy that still soars, elevated by its bold modern setting as well as by a central coupling that perfectly embodies its star-cross’d lovers’ impetuous and youthful ardour.
True, it takes a while to accept guns as swords, Mexico City as fair Verona and a soundtrack stuffed with contemporary chart bangers (‘When Doves Cry’, ‘Young Hearts Run Free’). But by the time Leonardo DiCaprio’s Romeo and Claire Danes’ Juliet meet cute on either side of a fish tank, we have completely bought into Luhrmann’s exotic and erotic vision – so much so that the likes of Pete Postlethwaite’s pot-cultivating Priest and Brian Dennehy’s mobster Montague barely raise an eyebrow.
Danes – who replaced a too-young Natalie Portman during rehearsals – is a fresh-faced delight. Meanwhile, between this and Titanic, her co-star’s status as cinema’s quintessential doomed heart-throb remains unassailably assured. Moulin Rouge! lovers may disagree, but this is the high point of Luhrmann’s Red Curtain Trilogy. What’s more, original West Side Story aside, it’s hard to imagine a more vibrant, accessible and cinematic take on Shakespeare… Over to you, Mr. Spielberg. Neil Smith