Romeo + Juliet (1996) – 3/5

Shakespeare in the now?

„Romeo + Juliet“ is a co-production between the United States, Mexico and Australia from 1996 and I still wonder to this day where the Mexican component comes from? Maybe parts of the cast. Anyway, this film is in the English language, but not the kind you (and I) speak on a regular basis. Also pay attention to the title and how they did not use and „and“ or „&“, but a +. I will not go into detail about that. This film is over 25 years old now and maybe if it takes you a little longer to get here and read this review of mine, then perhaps it is over 30 years old already. The director and one of the writers is Baz Luhrmann and this was only his second full feature film. But it was a big hit. Very telling that this is still shown on the big screen nowadays and that they have to change the room from a smaller one to a really big room because so many people wanted to come and see this. Luhrmann is of course still a big star in 2023 as we know from his recent Elvis biopic. He is 60 now and this means he was in his early/mid-30s when he made this film we got here. The screenplay was a collaboration between him and Craig Pearce and they worked together on quite a few films, including the aforementioned „Elvis“ now, which probably means that this is a lifelong friendship. Luhrmann and Pearce are of course form Australia, which explains the Australian production background here. The third writer credited here is a certain William Shakespeare and who would have thought that his works are still remembered almost half a millennium after his lifetime. I am not sure he would like the outcome here, but I am positive he would appreciate the attention and not being forgotten.

As for the cast, we have Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead here and he made this film one year before „Titanic“. But it is not just him. Claire Danes is also still a big name now and she was so young here. Unreal. She did not have the same successes like DiCaprio over the years, but made quite a name for herself on the small screen afterwards. Most people remember „Homeland“ of course. With this series, people are sometimes joking about her exaggerated crying face and to be honest, we see ounces of that already in this film she shot at a very young age. As for the (really) grown-up actors, John Leguizamo is always a nice inclusion. What Harold Perrineau, around the age of 60 in 2023, does now I am not sure. He looked younger in this film than he actually was. Vondie Curtis-Hall had a bit of a nothing career, except the Emmy nomination, but his character here also did not feel impactful at all and it was a bit of a bad inclusion almost when he has this big significant short speech at the end about how hatred results in loss and grief for everybody. Miriam Margolyes, also over 80 now, has been in some fine films. Jesse Bradford is another interesting inclusion. The same can surely be said about M. Emmet Walsh and maybe Zak Orth as well. None of them really have a huge impact story-wise. Pete Postlethwaite does, however. He is the one who comes up with the letter idea and how the two lovebirds can stay with each other, even if it all goes wrong. He is an actor I always like to see. May he rest in peace. Paul Sorvino is one I also always like to see, already because of his short, but nice inclusion in the L&O universe for which I do have a soft spot. He died last summer in his 80s and boy what a prolific career he has had. His Italian background fits in nicely with the films story taking place in and the character coming from Italy. He played Juliet’s dad. Of course, DiCaprio also has Italian roots, even if I personally, because of my own roots most likely, first think of his German background. So much for the performers.

What must be mentioned here is that they took the original language from Shakespeare’s work and still the film takes place in the modern world now. It took me something to get used to this to be honest. It was especially difficult at the beginning when there were just casual conversations between the friends and gang members and it felt really bizarre at times. I was already worried this could crucially impact my perception of the film in a negative way. Luckily, when romance begins and the film gets more dramatic, it was easier to appreciate. I still recommend subtitles to everybody, also to native English speakers. I watched it with German subtitles and those were really needed. I think my favorite moment from this film was maybe the scene with the aquarium, the first meeting between Romeo and Juliet and on the glass they are really close to each other right away, but in reality there is a lot between them and this was definitely an interesting parallel to what things really were like. The tragic ending was also memorable. The set was so spectacular already with all the candles there. And the moment he swallows the lethal drops he realizes that Juliet is indeed alive and she commits suicide immediately afterwards. I was not sure if this film could make an emotional connection for me, but eventually it did and so it is also a success from this perspective. Awards-wise, it was surely a success. It managed only one Oscar nomination, namely for art direction and set decoration and the candle scene at the end is surely one reason for that. What a pompous place there at the church. Initially fake, but then it includes even two instead of zero dead people. Of course, by today’s standards, the marrying component may sound crazy given the characters‘ ages, especially the girl’s, but let’s ignore that for a moment. And hey, they found true love and many have not in 80 years and they have in 20 or way under even. Claire Danes is absolutely stunning here, you cannot say otherwise.

They also made sure that none of the violence became too graphical, like when her character shoots herself in the head in the end. Or also when Romeo’s buddy is killed before that. This was admittedly a bit more graphic. I still struggled there. The two title characters have apparently had such close bonds with their brother and best friend, but none of this was depicted in the film really, so the grief following the killing(s) and also what Romeo does then came a bit out of nowhere. This could have been handled better. It felt rushed anyway, as if Luhrmann quickly wanted to get these two crucial killings done and move forward with the story to other areas that he had more fun elaborating on. But back to the awards. This film did really well at the BAFTAs where it won for the music and scored many other nominations, a bit surprisingly apparently no nomination for Best Picture. The music was good I agree, not just the instrumental tunes, but also the songs they used. The Cardigans song was really famous there obviously, still is and also the not so famous inclusions were great. I liked „Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)“ by Quindon Tarver. What a voice for such a young singer, also with the rest he contributed here to this film. He also led a tragic life sadly. Another rest-in-peace goes out there. Overall, the drama is definitely dominant in the movie, but here and there you will also smile, like every time when this nanny or elderly lady from Juliet’s group of people had some screen time. She found out quickly what was going on and supported Juliet. Gee, I almost write „Julia“ every time. That is her German name. By the way, while Romeo does not have any other girls, we only find out briefly about a previous love, Juliet is also courted by another man, one her parents are in favor of and that one is played by nobody else than Paul Rudd, yep the Ant-Man. What an inclusion. If people had any doubt that this film here has comedic inclusions, then Rudd could not have made it any more obvious. His face expressions alone make it a done deal. So many people in the room laughed a lot whenever he was on. He was surely not an antagonist and maybe even on the likable side. Except that Juliet sees a friend in him and nothing beyond that.

By the way, they also made sure in the nudity segments that we do not see any breasts or so. Those were covered by Romeo’s arms. Overall, I would say that I consider this film here inferior to other modern takes on the Romeo and Juliet story and with that I am mostly referring to the very new film by Spielberg, „West Side Story“ of course, and also the old „West Side Story“ that was nonetheless a modern take on the tale. A modern take for the early years of the second half of the 20th century that is. But even if I think these two films are better, I am glad this was shown again at a big movie theater and also glad that I went and saw it. It was also nice to see some of the reactions there from the crowd like how some reacted when Romeo took the poison. I wonder if they maybe actually did not know how it ends or maybe expected Luhrmann to give everybody a happy ending. No such thing and I appreciate that. Would have felt kinda fake. As I end the review now, let me say that the strengths were more frequent than the weaknesses luckily, but the opening and closing with the news reported was definitely not one of the strengths and I could have done without it completely. I think it was included to combine modern with ancient immediately as there was neither electricity when this film got made (at least not on a grand scale) nor television sets and, as a consequence, no television reporters. But she was still using the old English (not Italian). So yeah, I give the outcome here a thumbs-up. Go see it if you are a Leonardo DiCaprio completionist or so. It’s not a must-see though and certainly also not a great movie. One reason for that is also the music. I know I praised some of it earlier, but there are also inclusions where it is fairly awful, mostly when it is about rap and not gospel. That is all now.