The Tragedy of Macbeth: How Denzel Washington Does Shakespeare
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- Опубліковано 11 кві 2022
- The world of this Macbeth is colorless, surreal, and, in many ways, empty. But not just any man walks across this empty space of a world-Denzel Washington does.
Sources:
Brook, Peter. The Empty Space. 6th ed., New York City, Touchstone, 1996.
Sirmons, Julia. "Cinema, Theater, and the Art of Perpetual Transformation in Joel Coen's 'The Tragedy of Macbeth.'" The Los Angeles Review of Books, 11 Mar. 2022.
Willmore, Alison. "The Tragedy of Macbeth Is Pretty Much Just One Phenomenal Denzel Washington Performance." Vulture, New York Magazine, 27 Sept. 2021.
Film Credits:
The Tragedy of Macbeth. Directed by Joel Cohen, performances by Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, and Corey Hawkins, A24, 2021.
Macbeth. Directed by Rupert Goold, performance by Patrick Stewart, BBC, 2010.
Macbeth. Directed by Justin Kurzel, performance by Michael Fassbender, StudioCanal, 2015.
Twitter: / thought__word
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I love the Dagger soliloquy here. He's already made his mind up, and he's simply enjoying the hallucination. He's receiving some sort of cosmic confirmation in his beliefs. The rest of the movie he has all the confidence and sarcasm of a conspiracy theorist.
This has to be one of the best thematic interpretations of Macbeth that I have seen. The casting of one person for multiple roles fits so well in this setting, and the modern-ish buildings contrast amazingly with the older more medieval clothing. Happy to see someone covering it!
Yes, it's REALLY good! I thought the double casting of Kathryn Hunter as the witches and the "Old Man" from Act II, Scene 4 was a stroke of brilliance. It brought a layer of vague menace to the scene that's unique.
When i saw this performance my immediate thought was " he's won another oscar".
After the Will Smith/Chris Rock debacle, I think Denzel should have won Best Actor by default.
Denzel's Macbeth definitely stands up there with the best. The whole 5th Act, Denzel plays kind of a meta version of the character. He's just going through the motions because he knows what fate belies him. When Macduff emphatically tells him, he "was not born of woman" Macbeth is cold and detached. His lines delivered like someone bored of the script and he's just trying to reach the end. Every other performance is delivered with fear followed by bravado.
We love Shakespeare for all of the drama and poetry but, in one of the most stylized versions of his tales, it feels so grounded and "real."
Wonderful! Washington is a master of his craft; regardless of the genre, he brings gravitas to his performances. One of the greatest actors to have been on the silver screen. In MacBeth, he just takes your breath away and leaves you wondering how anyone else could have portrayed the role past, present or future any better than he has.
As a fan of sci-fi I was captivated . the movie was fantastic and put my brain into overdrive . The 3rd viewing was as fresh as the first and as haunting. WONDERFUL
Yes! A student of mine commented that they couldn't tell if the movie was set on an alien planet, in a post-apocalyptic future, or both...
I watched this four times in one week because I was so entranced each time. I knew nothing of Macbeth before this interpretation and it has become one of my favorite movies ever.
This Macbeth feels nihilistic, something i don't really get from the other Macbeths. More experienced too as you said. My favourite interpretation of this Shakespeare play
Patrick stewart will have a word with you
There's this kind of lethargy he brings to the role. As if the weight of all his ambitions and responsibilities whittled him down to a shell of a man. I think it is really important that Denzel and Frances are older actors. They don't have the vigor of younger people and all of the illusions that comes with youth.
It was a stunning performance . Shakespeare would be proudest. As “Colorless, surreal, empty “as he wrote it and meant it. READ it again!
Something about denzel’s eyes. It speaks a whole emotion by itselves. Top 3 actor of his generation
Speaking about his eyes even in this clip's final scenes.. the way he dims his eyes when responding to McDuff's decree that he's not born of a woman--my gosh!. He really does express the character's depression, descent into madness & his facial expressions really connected with me--bringing to life the realism of a huanted & hounded King who despite predictions of glory. knows his time is coming to en end. Top 3 indeed & maybe the best!
How did Will get the Oscar over Denzel? The award is hypocrisy made metal.
Wonderful work as always!
I think Denzel does oscarworthy acting in whatever movie he works in, he is one of the greatest to ever to it.
The Tragedy of Macbeth hightlights that. Not that the oscars matter, but he got snubbed for this and flight imo.
What an actor! What a person!
Five minutes ago. That's how long ago I found out about this movie at all. I knew Denzel has played stage performances of Shakespeare and what I found was this beautifully constructed movie. I must watch it. It invokes Tartakovsky's cinematography like in Samurai Jack.
Excellent comparison to Tartakovsky's shots. I think of the episode where Jack fought the ninja android and they hid in the shadows and the light of dusk comes to mind for me.
It's funny to believe that there are "so called" Shakspeaian purists when they have likely never even witnessed a Shakespeare play during his time.
It's the domesticity of the setting that makes this so chilling. What Hannah Arendt coined the "the banality of evil".
I’m partial to ‘Throne of Blood’ myself but this was incredibly impressive.
First time here. If this is the quality I can expect from your analysis, I'll be here regularly. Subscribed.
Thanks! I'll try to keep bringing the goods!
It’s not often you upload. But it’s a treat every time.
Too true. I'm glad it's worth the wait!
5:23 I can't say how much I love the visual metaphor of Duncan's bedchamber doorknob being a dagger, but I just can't get over how it looks a handle on a refrigerator... damn I hate it when comedy ruins drama!! ;P
One of the best looking and most atmospheric movies of all time.
I love your analysis of Macbeth (Denzel). I'm tutoring for a class that's reading Macbeth, and I'm watching the movie and following along in the book. It doesn't hit everything, but it makes it a little easier for me to digest.
In a word, wonderful!
perfect
Great observations here. Really enjoyed your analysis.
Theres something about the long time actor Denzel giving Macbeth an experience feeling to Macbeth youd almost think his ambition isnt outstripping his ability to do so. But that in a way makes the veteran officer part of his character hammer home the drastic means he falls into to keep the crown more assured as Macbeth would have been knee deep in blood from many battles that he could be desensitized to such violence.
It's an immaculate adaptation, but to me, 1971's version still reigns supreme
his best performance ever
Nope.
"Training Day".
@@_BillyMandalay Malcolm X was better-- in fact, Hurricane was better too, Flight's performance was excellent too. The guy never dissapoints with his top notch acts.
I absolutely love this analysis, AND.
I feel like there’s one major miss here. MacBeth’s fight with Seward isn’t won by instinct. The scene VERY clearly shows that this MacBeth has become an old man in a profession where men die young. He is a skilled, effective, and *efficient* killer of men whether he has a weapon in his hands or not.
But they’re often not ‘The Bard’s stories’. It is his adaptations of very old lore that make Shakespeare The Bard.
✊🏿🔥
Probably the black & white, but reminds me of Orson Welles' version. "[...] to find meaning in a that's closer to its end" is self-explanatory and should suffice. To add "than to its beginning" is redundant. The former encompasses the latter.
* in a life
Perhaps it could be understood as redundant, but I included it as a worthy clarification, given that Macbeth is often played by younger actors who are, in a real sense, closer to the beginning of their lives than the end. Not so with Denzel Washington, unless he lives to be at least 136 years old.
👍
even tho i havent seen many iterations (including this one) of the play in modern cinema i still find the 2015 movie to be the best simply because i find the execution of the lines and the whole atmosphere of the 2015 movie far more compelling than ones like this 2021 and others like it but i will definitely watch this simply because its piqued my shakespearian interest
also another reason why i find the 2015 movie to be one of the best is because of the layer of a more scottish tone and a focus on how Macbeth's loss and incessant focus of his son, which reminds me there's a video here somewhere on that very topic about the 2015 movie
I really like the 2015 adaptation too. Thematically, it's one of the most interesting and innovative versions of Macbeth I've seen. I made a video essay discussing it a couple years ago. Check it out and let me know what you think!
ua-cam.com/video/OwLh5tm412Q/v-deo.html
I can't say I'm a huge Shakespeare fan. I appreciate it but it's not my proverbial cup of tea but I have to say even as a younger teen, I've always liked Macbeth.
(Just to be clear, I've only read Macbeth, Romeo and Juicy-Juliet, and Othello).
Those are some excellent ones (though I'll admit to not being a huge fan of R+J)! I recommend finding some good filmed stage productions to watch. I really like The Globe's 2013 Macbeth. The RSC did a fantastic Hamlet in 2016 too with Paapa Essiedu starring. It's great.
I didn’t realize fans of a dead man’s work could be so bigoted, shame on you all making racially charged comments about this film because of its casting
HO ZEL MA DEN DOES ETH
HODEN
ZELDOES
MAETH
I enjoyed the performances in the film but the style doesn't hit with me, Macbeth is a visceral play and this is so sterile, it has some wonderful shots but I can't shake off the feeling that it just doesn't fit.
That said Denzel Washington has said he wants to do King Lear and I'm all in for that.
Was Scotland that progressive?
Scotland on an alien planet 100 years ago with brutalist architecture? Absolutely.
No, but Macbeth is a play. Not a docudrama or historical reconstruction.
Scotland is incredibly inclusive - to the extent that I cannot recall a major production of Macbeth that included any Scots in the cast.
So having another American (we had Orson Welles in the role remember), is no big deal is it?
Now I think on it, I can't recall a major production of Romeo and Juliet with any Italians cast, or a Hamlet featuring any Danes
How sad that we believe that we can only understand Shakespeare today by destroying the poetry. And then congratulate ourselves for being so lazy in the face of greatness.
To be fair, though, Macbeth is arguably the *least* poetic of Shakespeare's plays. He's constantly breaking rhythm and rhyme in it. This is a significant reason why Macbeth feels more contemporary than, say, A Midsummer Night's Dream does.
If Only They had kept them white
The movie itself is awesome. But Denzel’s delivery is terrible. He mumbles and whispers. He has a bad downglide. It is up to the actor to make Shakespeare understandable. I have played Macbeth a few times and know the play’s dialogue well. I couldn’t understand more than half of what Denzel was saying. Sorry. The movie gets a thumbs up but Denzel gets a raspberry.
Exactly
"wE wUz sCoTtIsH KaNgZ n sHeeeIT"
It's a play. Anyone can play Macbeth.
Talk about coping
How does Denzel do Macbeth ? Poorly.