Hey there musical lovers, Harry here with another look at Branagh's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. I'm dying to see this as it is a noble experiment and I'm rooting for Branagh to pull it off... But I have to admit that I really don't care for Alicia all that much, and... well, I'll just have to hold my tongue till we get to the other side of all of this. Here's the review...
LOVES, LABOUR'S, LOST. Advance Review.
"Loves, Labour's Lost" is Kenneth Branagh's ambitious cinematic adaptation of the William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The story is a simple tale of love, passion and the things that come between them. The King of Navarre (Alessandro Nivola - Face/Off, Best Laid Plans) and his three friends, Kenneth Branagh (Othello, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein) as Berowne, Adrian Lester (- Up On The Roof, Primary Colors) as Dumaine and Matthew Lillard (- Serial Mom, Scream) as Longaville. All swear a very public oath to enter a strict period of education and enlightenment, a binding element of their oath states that they must renounce women for three years. Their agreement to this is immediately challenged however with the arrival of the Princess of France, played by Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, Batman and Robin) and her three elegant companions; Natascha McElhone (- The Devils Own, The Truman Show) as Rosaline, Emily Mortimer (Elizabeth, Scream 3) as Katherine and Carmen Ejogo (Metro, The Avengers) as Maria.
Its easy to tell that a lot of effort and thought went into the planning of this film by Branagh, but it just doesn't seem to work and through much of the film I felt uneasy as to what I was actually watching. Non of the actors, with the exception of Nathan Lane (The Birdcage, Mouse Hunt) as Costard and Adrian Lester seem at all comfortable with the very epic Broadway-esq material. Indeed the only time I felt happy with the film was when Lane was onscreen. Lillard and Silverstone just seemed really out of place and it has to be said that Branagh's acting is much finer tuned than his singing. That said the set and costume design is beautiful and very eye-catching, it's just a shame that the other elements of film didn't come together. You feel that there was a really great idea in there somewhere, an idea that was lost in a jumble of miscast parts and a montage of styles. I think the film could have benefited too without the inclusion of the black and white newsreel plot-explanation segments, the presence of which seemed only to serve those that couldn't understand what was happening onscreen.
Loves, Labour's Lost" is a beautifully designed and photographed piece of cinema, that is let down by an uncomfortable juxtapositioning styles and a miscasting of most parts. It should find an appreciative limited audience, but its odd nature and feel well restrict its access to the mainstream viewers.
Call me Ko-ordin-8
