Shakespeare, that is. I'm not necessarily averse to updating the time period - strangely no one ever moves them BACK in time - or making a point (Orson Welles' Julius Caesar, for example, produced in the thirties when Mussollini was the current dictator in Italy, or a recent RSC production of The Merchant Of Venice set against the London Stock Exchange) but here wunderkind (in his own mind at least) Branagh tampers just for the hell of it and after setting it in Japan shot the bulk of it in Sussex, England. Branagh clearly sees himself as the Jose Morinho of the Arts - oh, yes, I'm a special person, wrote my autobiography in the womb, don't you know - but has a tough time convincing me for one. Such is this guy's ego that he throws in an introductory paragraph explaining how Japan was opened up to trade in the 19th century (No doubt Shakespeare was grateful and applauded from the grave) and tops this with an entirely gratuitous section like something left over from a Run Run Shaw chop-socky effort from the 70s. He just about stops short of Title Cards informing us that the major characters are, in fact, mirror images of each other in case casting Brian Blessed as BOTH Dukes and two Black actors as the non-Royal brothers didn't get it over. On the plus side - and just about the ONLY thing there is the fine reading of Rosalind by Bryce Dallas Howard, yet another American actress who has mastered an English accent. Pity there was little or no chemistry between her and Orlando or that Kevin Klines' Jacques was a little down in the mouth rather than melancholy. Branagh has never had much success directing actors and does nothing here to prove me wrong. On the other hand it's almost always good to see Shakespeare on the big screen - unless you let some prat like Baz Lurhman near it - so give it a five out of ten and get out the DVD of Chimes At Midnight.
Review of As You Like It
