I saw CORIOLANUS , with Ralph Finnes and Gerard Butler , directed by Ralph and based on William Shakespere's play , last night .
The theater where I saw it had a poster up different from the more or less " straight portrait " of Ralph shown on their flyer , instead a " face-off " between Ralph and Gerry with Star Wars: Phantom Menace blood makeup on one of them !!!!!!!!! It fit the story...They were trying to show it as more of a " movie " , I suppose .
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...I suppose it was considerably cut from Bill's actual script ( To the extend that there's a " standard " version , different Folios of Bill the Shake and all that . ) , and , frankly , tho I'd read the general arc of the story in the reviews , it's lucky I did decide to check out a synopsis just before on my smartphone and lucky I stumbled onto the Wikipedia synopsis for the actual play , as there were a couple characters/situations I might've had a little difficulty with/not quite gotten had I not read the WikiSynop .
I actually saw Joseph Fiennes play Coriolanus years and years ago in Stratford. It would be interesting to compare the performances.
(by the way, Caroline Blakison, who played Mon Mothma in Return of the Jedi, had the role of Coriolanus' mother in that particular production)
...It is modern dress , or , possibly , " twenty years ago modern dress " , there were CNN-style TV news shows shown and cell phones , but , possibly , slightly dated cfs , and then , when I saw in the end credits the ton of Slavic names among the lesser actors and technical crew and that it was location-shot in both Serbia and Montenegro ( Some in ol' Blighty as well . ) , I guess a parallel to the slaughter that started roughly twenty years ago in " the former Yugoslavia " was intended...
...Late on , and now that I've come up with the " twenty years ago " concept this is interesting , the shaven-headed and wifebeater teeshirt'ed Ralph comes off looking like Bruce Willis !!!!!!!!!
...Ha ha on myself , thinking it was Britain-filmed primarily , I was looking at the mob/rabble/common people and , sort of anyway?? , thinking that they fit the " sort of scrunced-up faces " look that I've tended to see on British crowds in crowd shots of concerts or sports events' audiences...a fairly small population stock in a small space...Then , when it turned out to be 'Slavia...The house where Coriolanus lived seemed maybe a 70s house , with a rather old-fashioned look and lack of much " modern " stuff in it...Perhaps in formerly Communist , even if " moderately " so , ex-Yugo' , houses might have a touch of that look , even ( equivalent to?? ) upper-upper middle class/upperclass ones...
...Okay , having re-read the Wiki synopsis of the play , not the movie it appears that the condnsing for the movie may have simplified it a widge/made Coriolanus a bit more of a straightforward victim , rather than a " tragic here " with a " tragic flaw " .
I'm not taking the time to check the movie's cast to see who corresponsds with what Willie character...But , in the movie , first , two examples of " the common people " , in the " We want grain ! " riots , then , later on when they are first in favor of Coriolanus then , are easily turned against him , are played by the same , male and female , two actors ( The woman sorta reminded me of Rhea Pearlman . )...They are more or less identically dressed throughout the film , I mean that they are in the same clothes , not that they are identical to each other !!!!!!!!! This is true of a lot of characters , " stylization " I suppose , but , for myself who tends to have problems with mixing up actors in movies/" face blindness " , it rather helped !!!!!!!!!
Are they the same characters in Willie the Shake's version ???????
One of the people who stirs up the rabble against Coriolanus is Brutus..." the " Brutus ????????? The Shakespereverse ???????????...As the Wiki synopsis describes it , the mob , led by/including Rhea and her friend , are rioting for lack of grain .
Later on , Corio refuses to apologize for the earlier lack of grain and , even , attacks the whole idea of popular rule when , post-the war , he runs for office .
I'm speaking , now , of the play , as Wiki-nopsized .
The film seemed to just give the impression that Corio was just refusing to give out typical BS and bend his hat to the mob/the rabble , but it appears that Will's play makes it a bit more that Corio , though heroic , is perhaps a bit of an *ssh*le , with what I'm citing him saying/not saying .
Maybe vintage drama tended to not always pay attention to " the middle " of a situation , with something like Corio's mother and " the chaste gentlewoman " he admires ( whose part appears to have been pretty much , otherwise , cut out completely ) coming along and being allowed to , in front of the enemies f Rome that he has joined , beseech him to come back to Rome and betray his new allies without those allies objecting to them saying that !!!!!!!!! Would " Roman enemies' chivalry " extend that far ????????? Likewise , it takes , more or less , one line by Brutus and Company to turn the mob , Rea , etc. , against Corio . Maybe in Elixabethian times setting up " a realistic structure/in-between " wasn't so mch valued !!!!!!!!!
...In other words (perhaps unintentionally) the movie's editing makes Corio a bit more one-dimensionally " heroic " , simply someone who will not tug his forelock to typical political BS ( hmmmmnmmnm...Sounds familiar . :-) ) , while leaving out that , maybe anyway , " the mob " has some justification , maybe , - maybe?? - for their aminus (I spld that rite?? ) .
A little too much of a Steve Ditko - or " comic-book " in general - hero ???????
Hee , hee , I didn't say that !!!!!!!!!