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Slightly OT: The Tragedy of Macbeth

Some one I follow on Twitter was just gobsmacked by this play on AppleTV, which stars the great Denzel Washington as Macbeth.

I tried watching it and found one problem, the sound, and another, the acting.  The former allows me to talk about it here. :)

I found the voice often mumbled and too hard to hear.  In terms of the acting, and diction, the line delivery was on a metronome, and I wondered if the actors knew the words they were using or rushing through them.

Can any fans of the bard help me get more into this production? 

erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,898 posts
 

Judging by the trailers, the principal emphasis is on the moody B&W look and other atmospheric film noir details, of which the sotto voce dialogue would be a part.

 

Yeah, it is very film noir. And I can see that Branaugh's is going to be a radically different take (I've seen Henry V) .

theaudiotweak
2,806 posts
 

Was it tough to decode the movie Belfast as well or Net Flix series Peeky Blinders?.Both of those took awhile to decipher and finnaly understand. Peeky we watched with subtitles on for at least 20 minutes so our brains could adapt to the accent. Tom

fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,645 posts
 

You want Shakespeare stick to Brian Cox on a stage.

And he ain't English.

docknow
326 posts
 

Saw it in a theater a few months ago.  Did notice I was understanding much more of the dialogue by the end of the film, which suggests my brain was adapting to the old English.

erik_squires OP
16,898 posts
 

See, I actually love Shakespeare and iambic pentameter.  This movie, to my mind relies too much on mood and not enough on acting.  Am I dead inside?

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