mjhsieh@trillium.uwaterloo.ca (Kevin Takahashi) (04/03/91)
ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
A film review by Kevin Takahashi
Copyright 1991 Kevin Takahashi
Written and Directed by Tom Stoppard
Cast: Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Richard Dreyfuss
What we have here is a case of an excellent adaptation of a
brilliant stage play. Tom Stoppard has done a fabulous job of both
adapting and directing his play for the screen.
I believe this is Stoppard's directorial debut (at least in film),
although his screenwriting credits include BRAZIL, as well as screen
adaptations of J. G. Ballard's EMPIRE OF THE SUN and John LeCarre's THE
RUSSIA HOUSE.
For those of you unfamiliar with R&G, think back to Shakespeare's
HAMLET. Remember those two guys who hang around with him for a little
while and then are gone? Those are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Minor
characters in Shakespeare's play. Now imagine this: Watching HAMLET
through the eyes of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. This is what R&G ARE
DEAD is all about: having HAMLET happen around the bewildered and
confused R&G.
To be glib, R&G ARE DEAD can be described as an intellectual "Who's
On First?". Indeed, there is much verbal fencing and witty dialogue,
that I almost would recommend that those unfamiliar with the text rent
it first ... (or read the play) ... so as not to miss a lot of the
texture. I'm not going to dwell upon plot anymore, because I've said
all I'm going to say about it. That's the general outline, and to say
any more would be a foul and hideous deed, indeed.
Another thing that makes R&G ARE DEAD a real treat are the
performances of Tim Roth (last seen in Robert Altman's not-so-good
VINCENT AND THEO) and Gary Oldman (STATE OF GRACE, etc.) as the
befuddled, bewildered duo. They pull of their roles with grace,
savoir-faire and charm ... (seemingly) effortlessly portraying R&G.
Definitely tour-de-force performances, with few histrionics, and with
much subtlety. This is what I believe makes R&G ARE DEAD a superior
adaptation ... the fact that subtlety comes across much easier on film
than on the stage. A subtle facial expression which may not make a
great impact on stage (due to the scale) can make all the difference in
a film, and it does here. There are times when both Roth and Oldman
make a scene so funny just by a slight change in facial expression.
Richard Dreyfuss is also wonderful as the Player, the leader of a
travelling theatre troupe that plays at Elsinore.
Tom Stoppard does a fabulous job of directing, as well. He has
created an Elsinore like no other Elsinore ... to quote another review
"... an Elsinore by way of M. C. Escher...." Don't take it
literally ... but Stoppard's Elsinore is a wild and wacky place. He has
made some textual changes to accommodate the transition from stage to
screen and, I believe, added some material. The sight gags are
plentiful enough and a sight to behold, neither staid nor cliche, but
fresh and witty.
All in all, this is a film to be experienced. Lovers of the play
*cannot* be disappointed, and for those who are not familiar with R&G
should find it an enlightening look at HAMLET. Those unfamiliar with
HAMLET as well may find the experience confusing, but hopefully an
entertaining one nonetheless. Go see this. Please.
RATING: 10/10frankm@microsoft.UUCP (Frank MALONEY) (05/17/91)
ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1991 Frank Maloney
ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD is a movie written and
directed by Tom Stoppard and adapted from his play of the same name.
The movie stars Gary Oldman (Rosencrantz), Tim Roth (Guildenstern), and
Richard Dreyfuss (the Player).
Stoppard wrote R&G ARE DEAD in 1964 and instantly became a Major
Playwright. This is the reward for chutzpah for it is certainly an act
of nervy pushiness to take two minor characters from HAMLET and turn
them loose in a world that mixes Shakespeare, Laurel and Hardy, Abbot
and Costello, Samuel Beckett, and the Marx Brothers in a vast, lapping
sea of words. One of the boys (and even they are forever getting
confused about who's on first) says: "Words! All we have are words."
As sure as there are 101 keys on my keyboard, this is the *texte* of the
play and of the movie. The word play is profound and silly, a literal
game (played on a tennis court in one scene), as it were. It is a world
designed by Escher, a world of convoluted circles, a world where R&G are
the audience and the players, and a world which may or may not be
enclosed or even exist in the collapsible walls of the portable theater
of a troupe of itinerant players.
The players, BTW, are a delight, apparently Yugoslavian mimes (the
location work was shot in Yugoslavia); one is tempted by the possibility
that in this world of words gone amok it is the mimes who are in
control. They are led by Richard Dreyfuss as a cross between Prospero
and W. C. Fields and not a little resembling God. Dreyfuss's natural
tendency to smarminess, smugness, and insufferability are handsomely and
profitably showcased in this role, which reminds us once again that,
Holly Hunter movies notwithstanding, Richard Dreyfuss is an actor yet.
The boys, R&G, Oldman and Roth, are show-stoppers, nonpareils,
virtuosi. They are British actors, Oldman having been in STATE OF GRACE
and Roth in VINCENT & THEO. Their tongues and wits are as mobile as
their faces. We're never quite sure, any more than they, who is who,
but still they create individuals out of two funny names. Large bits of
HAMLET are mixed into R&G ARE DEAD and Oldman and Roth demonstrate the
alarming ability to speak their speeches in the received Shakespearean
mode even while telling each other and us that they haven't the faintest
notion what any of this is about; it's as if they knew how to say two
words at once. They are gifted physical comedians as well, for theirs
are strenuous roles that require enormous physical efforts and not a few
pratfalls.
Roth's Guildenstern fancies himself the intellectual of the pair,
but in fact his intellectualism is an endless maze of Schoolman
Platonisms and hair-splittings. Whereas Oldman's Rosencrantz is the one
who is aware of the world, who is on the perpetual edge of one great
scientific discovery or another, only to have each snatched from him at
the moment of discovery. He is also the one who asks the questions that
go beyond Roth's Abbot and Costello routines; he touches our hearts:
"Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death?"
Together they are a team of observers in the looney bin, who don't
have a key or a pass, and who have no idea where the exit lay.
This is a one-of-a-kind movie. You simply must see it. Even
though you may wonder in the end who you are: Rosencrantz or
Guildenstern.
--
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney