The Coens have another movie out. Or, rather, a Coen has a movie out. While Ethan is taking a break from movies to try his hand at theatre, Joel is… well, he’s kinda doing the same thing here, with an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Yep, after spending their entire career up to this point working together (albeit without always being credited as a duo, because guild rules are weird like that), one of the leading filmmaking teams is now working apart. Between the separating of the paths, and Shakespeare being all about the staging rather than the writing (which, let’s be honest, isn’t exactly how either of the Coens operate), I was certainly curious about how it would turn out, but was willing to accept that things could get a bit shaky. However, nothing of the sort takes place here: Joel can fly solo just as well as he has with his brother up to this point.
The immediate thing that jumped out at me is how stripped-down the production is. The 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the chiaroscuro visuals, the minimalist set design; this is closer to a ‘50s adaptation, like Olivier’s Hamlet, than it is to, say, Justin Kurzel’s take on Macbeth. And yet, even with the theatrical aesthetic, it still doesn’t just feel like filmed theatre, as Bruno Delbonnel’s camera work and the editing from Lucian Johnston and Reginald Jaynes stick to thematic storytelling techniques that… might have worked on the stage with enough engineering magic, but keep it firmly stuck to the medium it sits in.
The narrative has also been stripped down to its essentials, with only the most crucial dialogue kept intact. In terms of specific framing, which parts of the story are being emphasised, it has elements of the ‘for want of an heir’ theming of Kurzel’s film, and even bits of The Green Knight-esque environmentalism with how the Weird Sisters are portrayed (not to mention the creative staging for the three apparitions). But primarily, this gets to the core of the original play, that being the hubris of Macbeth and his ambitions for the throne.
Denzel Washington is more than familiar with the Bard (and with how much I loved him in Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing, it’s good to see him back here), and as he gradually succumbs to his paranoia and guilt over his actions, the man does justice to the words. As does Frances McDormand as his Lady, playing up some of the ambiguities of the character re: how responsible she is for furthering Macbeth’s actions, and feeling just as well-placed as Denzel.
And around the both of them, along with the rest of the cast (all of whom work very nicely with the setting and dialogue), the film’s sheer simplicity gives way to its own form of surreality. With how far a lot of filmmakers go, often by necessity, in order to give a fresh take of Shakespeare’s writing on the big screen, something that goes this far back to basics feels weirdly outlandish.
It’s almost a deconstruction of the more bombastic efforts out there, highlighting that the main thing that makes Shakespeare’s stories so beloved to the day (his way of words) can shine through regardless of whatever superfluous polish is put on the presentation. It may not be the most exciting version of the story I’ve seen (or even the best that I’ve reviewed on here), but its aims and ultimate successes as a production have certainly earned my respect.
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