Made for a relatively low budget, Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, cheekily titled Romeo + Juliet for whatever reason, became an international box office and cultural hit. I remember when this movie took the kids I knew by storm. Most probably didn't quite grasp the language, but they definitely understood the (admittedly simplistic) emotions behind it, which is as successful as you can hope to achieve with a Shakespeare adaptation.
There've been many modern takes on Shakespeare's classics. When they fail to work, it's often because they try to force the original premise into a context that might fit logically, but not emotionally. What makes Romeo + Juliet an easy transplant is that the source is ready-made for an MTV-style makeover.
Shakespeare wrote a play about the romantic foolishness of impulsive teenage love and envisioned it as a bunch of passionate Italians fighting and bedding and declaring ridiculous orations of great love. It's already slightly removed from the culture of the real Verona, which Shakespeare never even been to, and meant to be the heightened expression. The mid-1990's equivalent of that would and should be a pop lens filtered view of a beach city like Miami—where music, gangs, religion and sex collide—and the lovers should be angst-ridden 90210 types. The eponymous lovers meet, fall in love, marry, make love then commit mutual suicide in the span of four days. Cupid loves his fools, and fools transcend time.
Though he seems to struggle with the words, Leonardo DiCaprio makes for a good Romeo; not just physically, but also his capacity for melodramatic hysterics, something that's still his biggest asset as recently seen in Revolutionary Road and even Inception. Besides, everyone in this movie struggles with the dialogue, straining to make them work with present-day context and attitudes. The sole exceptions being Paul Sorvino and Pete Postlethwaite, who manage to get Shakespeare's prose roll of their tongues smoothly. But then, their roles don't require them to do so while twirling guns in pink hair. The breakout performance of the film is Harold Perrineau, who plays hard-partying Mercutio, completely selling what he's saying even dressed in drag. Ultimately the line deliveries don't matter much, though, as it's the actors' expressions and Luhrmann's direction that do all the talking.
Baz Luhrmann's strength is in his control of rhythm, through the use of pop music and editing, to create a cinematic energy that can almost replace the story and dialogue (but isn't necessary in this case, obviously). This strength comes immediately into play in the film's furious first fifteen minutes, starting with a dizzying introductory montage that looks like a teaser trailer for the movie itself—serving as some sort of visual version of an operatic overture—which then connects into a hyper-stylized gun fight sequence laced with Beastie Boys, Once Inch Punch, hymns and Morricone-like twangs.
It's only after this sensory tornado that the film slows down for Romeo's entrance, looking as pretty as you remember young DiCaprio to be, smoking a cigarette in slow motion and posing like a fashion model bathed in sunset as Radiohead's "Talk Show Host" signals his melancholy. The perfect male lead for a love story. He doesn't even need to say a word.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Supervised by Luhrmann himself, the HD transfer of the film looks pretty damn good. It also comes with a couple of great new features. "Shaking Up Shakespeare" is one of those Blu-ray only picture-in-picture modes that combine the old audio commentary from Luhrmann (from a previous DVD release) with pop-up info, videos and icons that lead to other features. These include uncut footage of rehearsals and behind-the-scenes happenings, all rendered in high definition.
There's also a new 50-minute documentary on the soundtrack. While this sounds like an odd subject to explore retroactively, it's actually a very important one for this particular film, given the soundtrack's smash success and the role music plays in the film. Interviewed in the doc, Luhrmann explains his intention of doing the movie as if William Shakespeare himself is alive in present day and telling the Romeo and Juliet story for the first time as a film, concluding that Shakespeare would use "the music of the people," which Luhrmann interprets as pop hits. As a result, in the end the doc also becomes one about the film itself, covering the production, the editing process, the way each song plays into the appropriate moments in the film, as well as Thom Yorke's involvement writing a special song inspired by the film for the closing credits.
"Romeo + Juliet" is on sale October 19, 2010 and is rated PG13. Drama, Romance. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Written by Craig Pearce & Baz Luhrmann. Starring Brian Dennehy, Claire Danes, Diane Venora, John Leguizamo, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paul Sorvino, Pete Postlethwaite.
