shallowness (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shallowness) wrote2013-06-23 08:34 am
shallowness) wrote2013-06-23 08:34 am
Entry tags:
Catch-up post no. 5 (Much Ado...)
Much Ado about Nothing
I am so glad that I was able to see this. I enjoyed it a lot, I thought that overall it was an intelligent and entertaining adaptation and there were some really good performances and none that I'd term weak. Amy Acker’s Beatrice in particular was strong and Reed Diamond was a revelation as Don Pedro (the last thing I saw him in was The Mentalist and I had to scramble to remember what the character was doing) oh and Fillion and Lenk is a double act of which I could happily see more. That’s not to put the rest of the cast down, Clark Gregg was good and so was Denisof, although, as with Acker, I was expecting him to be after all I'd seen them do on Angel and Buffy, and although the clowning around was funny, I knew he could do it, preferred him playing the straight glimpses of Benedick – how his pride is hurt at Beatrice’s assessment, his reactions at the wedding-that-isn’t and when he does face up to Claudio. Obviously, my favourite version of Wesley is in season 4, so that may be a factor. I don't know, I just thought that Acker's Beatrice was more cohesive despite the difficult transitions that are in the text. And she talked up a storm and yet was always easy to follow. It may help that she comes off as the wronged party from the opening.
I loved that Whedon’s take on the shenanigans is...they’re sozzled. I mean, Claudio letting Don Pedro woo Hero on his part is daft, the way that everyone sets Beatrice and Benedick up is daft. Riffing off the title, the film's justification was that they’re rich, the ‘soldiers’ are letting their hair down now it’s peace time and everyone is mildly inebriated. It explains a lot. With this tone and the look, and the whole marrying at a posh pad thing, it reminded me a little of The Philadelphia Story.
I wasn’t quite as sold on making Beatrice and Benedick’s past – I agree that it’s fair to read that they had some past and he let her down because he wasn’t ready to commit – explicitly sexual given that so much is made in the text of Hero’s virginity. It’s not just her disloyalty that’s driving all the men’s wrath. But there are always going to be such problems in doing it straight in a modern setting.
Although, as ever, I am so on the ladies’ side there – dealing with it in public? For real? Yes, you should be ashamed of yourselves and take whatever punishment you were given, CLAUDIO (and Don Pedro). I could have done with a little more lingering on Hero’s forgiveness and Claudio’s restitution, but momentum is against them, and the fact that they’re the beta couple.
Oh Beatrice and Benedick – such fun. Although there’s a sparkle between Beatrice and Don Pedro – heightened here because RD was so good, so you felt that his melancholy at the end wasn’t so much about his brother ruining everything or his loneliness but that he didn’t get that girl – the only one who can really match wits with her is Benedick. Oh, and Denisof really was good at the soliliquies, but I thought overall the text was rendered lucidly anyway.
We were already invested in B/B before the matchmaking and the shades of darkness, the mutual pride and foolishness make the original Bickersons irresistible. Plus, when a grievous wrong is done to Hero, they express the audience's feelings.
I loved the setting of ‘sigh no more’, some of the use of the location was flawless – putting Benedick and Claudio to sleep in children’s rooms was automatically funny and suggested Benedick’s arrested development in insisting he was going to remain a bachelor. The framing too. I liked that they kept it simple with the textually required masks, and the moments with the candles and the veils worked. It wasn’t so much the house that made me drool as the garden and the location.
Finally, there were quite a few hot men I didn’t really know, like the exquisite Boccachio. Maher is aging well – I was particularly wondering how he’d do in comparison with Keanu ‘Weak Link in the Branagh Adaptation’ Reeves. Better was the unsurprising answer. And they were all mostly in suits. Appreciated.
While it wasn’t flawless, it rekindled Shakespeare feelings. I've never actually seen Much Ado performed live!!!
I am so glad that I was able to see this. I enjoyed it a lot, I thought that overall it was an intelligent and entertaining adaptation and there were some really good performances and none that I'd term weak. Amy Acker’s Beatrice in particular was strong and Reed Diamond was a revelation as Don Pedro (the last thing I saw him in was The Mentalist and I had to scramble to remember what the character was doing) oh and Fillion and Lenk is a double act of which I could happily see more. That’s not to put the rest of the cast down, Clark Gregg was good and so was Denisof, although, as with Acker, I was expecting him to be after all I'd seen them do on Angel and Buffy, and although the clowning around was funny, I knew he could do it, preferred him playing the straight glimpses of Benedick – how his pride is hurt at Beatrice’s assessment, his reactions at the wedding-that-isn’t and when he does face up to Claudio. Obviously, my favourite version of Wesley is in season 4, so that may be a factor. I don't know, I just thought that Acker's Beatrice was more cohesive despite the difficult transitions that are in the text. And she talked up a storm and yet was always easy to follow. It may help that she comes off as the wronged party from the opening.
I loved that Whedon’s take on the shenanigans is...they’re sozzled. I mean, Claudio letting Don Pedro woo Hero on his part is daft, the way that everyone sets Beatrice and Benedick up is daft. Riffing off the title, the film's justification was that they’re rich, the ‘soldiers’ are letting their hair down now it’s peace time and everyone is mildly inebriated. It explains a lot. With this tone and the look, and the whole marrying at a posh pad thing, it reminded me a little of The Philadelphia Story.
I wasn’t quite as sold on making Beatrice and Benedick’s past – I agree that it’s fair to read that they had some past and he let her down because he wasn’t ready to commit – explicitly sexual given that so much is made in the text of Hero’s virginity. It’s not just her disloyalty that’s driving all the men’s wrath. But there are always going to be such problems in doing it straight in a modern setting.
Although, as ever, I am so on the ladies’ side there – dealing with it in public? For real? Yes, you should be ashamed of yourselves and take whatever punishment you were given, CLAUDIO (and Don Pedro). I could have done with a little more lingering on Hero’s forgiveness and Claudio’s restitution, but momentum is against them, and the fact that they’re the beta couple.
Oh Beatrice and Benedick – such fun. Although there’s a sparkle between Beatrice and Don Pedro – heightened here because RD was so good, so you felt that his melancholy at the end wasn’t so much about his brother ruining everything or his loneliness but that he didn’t get that girl – the only one who can really match wits with her is Benedick. Oh, and Denisof really was good at the soliliquies, but I thought overall the text was rendered lucidly anyway.
We were already invested in B/B before the matchmaking and the shades of darkness, the mutual pride and foolishness make the original Bickersons irresistible. Plus, when a grievous wrong is done to Hero, they express the audience's feelings.
I loved the setting of ‘sigh no more’, some of the use of the location was flawless – putting Benedick and Claudio to sleep in children’s rooms was automatically funny and suggested Benedick’s arrested development in insisting he was going to remain a bachelor. The framing too. I liked that they kept it simple with the textually required masks, and the moments with the candles and the veils worked. It wasn’t so much the house that made me drool as the garden and the location.
Finally, there were quite a few hot men I didn’t really know, like the exquisite Boccachio. Maher is aging well – I was particularly wondering how he’d do in comparison with Keanu ‘Weak Link in the Branagh Adaptation’ Reeves. Better was the unsurprising answer. And they were all mostly in suits. Appreciated.
While it wasn’t flawless, it rekindled Shakespeare feelings. I've never actually seen Much Ado performed live!!!