5 REASONS TO SEE ...
Cinematheque is celebrating Bard-related movies, writes Shawn Conner
SHAKESPEARE 400 Starts Friday, runs until July 13 | The Cinematheque Tickets and info: thecinematheque.ca
1
Far-out adaptations. To commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, The Cinematheque is throwing a party. Shakespeare 400 is a showcase of not just some of the best movies adapted from the English playwright’s work, but some of the wildest. Case in point: Forbidden Planet, a 1956 science fiction film starring Leslie Nielsen and based on The Tempest. Other oblique interpretations include Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho (1991), an update of the Henry IV plays; and West Side Story (1961), which dipped into Romeo and Juliet for its screenplay.
2
Kurosawa adaptations. Cineastes agree: one of the greatest interpreters of Shakespeare’s work is Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. His 1957 take on Macbeth, Throne of Blood, as well as his 1985 reworking of King Lear, Ran, will both be screened as part of Shakespeare 400.
3
Modern adaptations. Generation X has its own Romeo and Juliet in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo + Juliet, starring a preHomeland Claire Danes and pre-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio. Meanwhile, millennials get Much Ado About Nothing, a 2012 modern-dress take on the comedy from director Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Avengers).
4
Classic adaptations. In total, the showcase includes 13 features spanning over six decades of Bard on screen, reaching back to 1944 for Laurence Olivier’s Henry V. Olivier’s Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955) are also scheduled.
5
Great directors. Shakespeare is catnip for cinematic titans. Just ask Orson Welles and Roman Polanski, whose Chimes at Midnight (which centres on recurring Shakespeare character Sir John Falstaff) and Macbeth are part of the summer program.