- Sensibility: The tale is old enough and well known enough to be quite sensible, but this portrayal makes it so even to the modern eyes and ears. Only portion that I thought was awkward was the moment where Macbeth finds his wife dead.
- Cinematography: Visually masterful. The lighting is incredible even in black and white. The production design give the film its brillliant blend of theater and film. The framing choices are often jaw-dropping, creating gorgeous and thought-provoking, emotionally stimulating imagery. Sound design, particularly the knocking and the role it plays narratively, is excellent. Costuming is solid and very good for the witches. The only critique I could give is for a few strange quick-cuts/edits, but these are not bothersome enough to detract from the, and I'm not using this word lightly, genius of the cinematic choices.
- Energy: A well structured narrative and solid editing keep things moving even through the lengthy language common to Shakespeare. Denzel and McDormand put on all-timer performances for a story that has a lot of all-timer performances.
- Narrative: The film does a masterful job of staying true to Shakespeare's word while jumping past some of the more narratively confusing or awkward bits to keep things clean and clear. The choices in the portrayal of the witch/witches is shockingly brilliant and perhaps my favorite interpretation I've seen to date. I am quite partial to the story of Macbeth and am well educated on its nuances, but even with this pretentious nature about the story I found the overall interpretations of the dialogue and the story, particularly the details around the third murderer and Fleance, to be thought-provoking, to be true to the original text while giving the narrative a new cinematic flavor.
- T-Points: The film received five bonus points: one for a three-in-one witch in an opening scene, one for an overhead shot into a disheveled home, one for a shot of three witches in the rafters and Macbeth's vision, one for a sequence hunting for Fleance, and one for Denzel's unbelievable
performance of this classic role.
I am very partial to this story, but this version of it is brilliant. The visual interpretation of the witches is probably my favorite of any rendition I've seen. It's the perfect blend of film and theater, leaving lots of the original theater directions and almost all the dialogue untouched.
Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand put on all-timer performances as they always seem to do.
Number of Watches: 1
