Modernisation of the Shakespeare play starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the main roles. They are both excellent and their love scenes zing with energy and sensual yearning. But the film is directed in such a self-conscious manner as to be almost unwatchable. I really disliked the speeded-up sequences, and the awfully clunky opening moments in a gas station had me about to turn off the film and hurl the DVD across the room. It may have been deliberate to make the other characters grotesque and cartoonish, but it just doesn’t work. Are we meant to find them comical or endearing? In fact, the effect is oddly repulsive.
A less tricksy approach might have developed (rather than risked sabotaging) the romance narrative and allowed the DiCaprio/Danes chemistry to dominate. It’s one of the all-time great stories – source material this strong really shouldn’t be difficult to film – but Baz Luhrmann somehow manages to mess it up.
The highlight is the Radiohead song over the closing credits.
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