As You Like It
(2006)
I have a friend who maintains that Kenneth Branaghs approach to Shakespeare is too hammy; what I tend to like about his better films is what I perceive to be the lack of staginess that has plagued most Shakespeare films of the last century, as if the ac-tors had to remind you that you were watching SHAKESPEARE! So when I first saw the last bit of Henry V, where Ken and Em seem to be ad-libbing Shakespeare, I was blown away. Ive enjoyed many of Branaghs efforts (although I will admit, Othello was hammy), and decided to try one I was largely unaware of. Having selected it solely because it was a Branagh joint, I was supremely pleased in the first ten minutes when the cast was revealed: Brian Blessed, Alfred Molina, Kevin Kline (Kevin Kline!!), David Oyelowo, and one of my personal favorites, Adrian Lester. Even Bryce Dallas Howard loomed as a big plus. And Ken did what he likes to do, transplanting the action to the Meiji restoration period in Japan. Ok, fine, Shakespeares supposed to be universal, it should still work. But even with this cast (and some very pretty outdoor scenery), its still As You Like It, a banal play filled with all the things I dont like about Shakespeare; mistaken identity, gender-swapping (which worked better in Wills day when the girls were actually played by young men, but expecting me to suspend disbelief to accept Bryce Dallas Howard as a boy, come on), a lot of gushy gushy nonsense about love, and far too much time spent with the coarse and almost always uninteresting lower classes (though Michael Keaton in Much Ado was freaking brilliant). Some of the transplanted location ideas proved interesting; a wrestling match is made into a Sumo fight, and the opening bit where the evil duke (Blessed) ousts the good duke (also Blessed) wearing samurai armor and leading a cadre of ninjas. These and other assorted bits like them worked very well. But setting the action in Japan also beggars the question of why everyone is English (theres like one Asian guy in a very small role), and seems as much of a distraction as it is a benefit. The play itself is sort of hammy, and the artificial approach seems to lend credence to my friends argument. Again, I think Branagh has done some stellar work with his Shakespeare movies, just not here. There are many good ones to choose from should you feel the itch Ive mentioned most of them, but Henry V, Much Ado, even Hamlet, you can really dig in and enjoy (Id love to see what he could do with Julius Caesar). This, youd be better off skipping. I love half the cast and even I was bored by the one hour mark. August 16, 2013
