USA,
2000, 113 min
Shown in 2000
CREDITS
- dir
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Michael Almereyda
- prod
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Andrew Fierberg, Amy Hobby
- scr
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Michael Almereyda
- cam
-
John de Borman
- editor
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Kristina Boden
- cast
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Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora, Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Bill Murray
- source
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Miramax Films, 375 Greenwich St., New York, NY 10013. FAX: 212-941-3834
-
COMMENTS
Shown as the Closing Night feature. Michael Almereyda, Ethan Hawke in person.
OTHER
This ingenious and diverting version of Shakespeare's Hamlet is a playful, frequently hilarious reinvention. Respectful of the spirit and language of the original play, it is recontextualized into corporate Manhattan and a world of press conferences, limos and Blockbuster Videos. Ethan Hawke plays Hamlet with an attitude—the Prince of the Denmark Corporation is none other than a quintessential, moody twentysomething slacker who plays back his soliloquies from a pixel-vision video diary and calls Ophelia (Julia Stiles) on his cell phone. Almereyda's customary cool, detached approach (with poetic asides) is in full effect, but he adopts a new visual luxuriance, staging events in long, fluid takes, beautifully realized by John de Borman. Successfully matching up modern urban malaise and fragmentation with Shakespearean morbidity, Almereyda triumphantly proves that Shakespeare's words hold their own in a world of image bombardment and media and technology overload—they even survive product placement. The superb cast is a mix of indie regulars like Liev Schreiber, Kyle McLachlan and Steve Zahn with icons like Bill Murray (as Polonius) and Sam Shepard (as the ghost of Hamlet's father). A a bonus, keep your eyes peeled for s surprise contribution by experimental animator Lewis Klahr.
—Gavin Smith
FACTOID #45
Peter Jennings, Peter Ustinov, Bill Cosby and Gene Kelly have all served as master of ceremonies on Opening Night of the San Francisco International Film Festival.
