The Tragedy of Macbeth
Composite Score: 83.23
Starring: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Alex Hassell, Bertie Carvel, Brendan Gleeson, Corey Hawkins, Harry Melling, Moses Ingram, and Kathryn Hunter
Director: Joel Coen
Writer: Joel Coen
Genres: Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Action
MPAA Rating: R for violence
Box Office: $524,771 worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
The Tragedy of Macbeth is Joel Coen’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Scottish play, starring Denzel Washington in the titular role and Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth. Coen’s direction of Shakespeare’s work hearkens back to Laurence Olivier’s film adaptation of Hamlet in its cinematography – shot in black and white with a classic box-screen aspect ratio. The film looks phenomenal and allows all of its actors (not just the starring leads) to deliver Shakespearean performances with remarkable skill. The way that Coen stages the scenes works well in capturing the fantastical and gritty nature of Macbeth’s tale. Though perhaps not as visceral as the Michael Fassbender version, this adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic is carried by its performances, visuals, and set design.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Look, apart from the visuals and the performers, The Tragedy of Macbeth doesn’t offer a whole lot of deviation from or creative development of Shakespeare’s classic work. On the one hand, this is highly refreshing – asking audiences to partake of fairly pure Elizabethan tragedy in the year of our Lord 2021 was a very different take. At the same time, I don’t know how much credit we can give Joel Coen for the film’s greatness other than having the vision to create the film’s stellar visuals, though much of that no doubt came from the cinematography and production design. On a related note, if Shakespeare/Shakespearean language isn’t really your thing, this film is pure Shakespeare, and you will probably not be having a great time.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
This film looks fantastic! Having been shot on sound stages in black and white, the film gives the audience a feeling of true fantasy – almost otherworldly despite its Scottish setting. Coen transports the audience to the world of Shakespeare with the massive set pieces, eerie camera angles, and phenomenal costuming. The whole thing is seemingly designed to feel as unnatural as the chanting of the Weird Sisters, putting the audience in an immediate state of unease but also of rapture, being caught up into the world of the story’s fiction. It works wonderfully for me, giving a sense of grandiosity while feeling like I’m watching the play as a play.
Adding to the film’s excellent design are its performances. Supporting performances by Alex Hassell as Ross, Bertie Carvel as Banquo, Brendan Gleeson as Duncan, Corey Hawkins as Macduff, Moses Ingram as Lady Macduff, and Kathryn Hunter as the Witches go a long way in Shakespeare’s dialogue, delivering their lines with all the characterization one would expect of performers in a professional acting troupe in order to accentuate the film’s leads. Frances McDormand’s Lady Macbeth shines as she devolves from murderous ambition into despairing madness. She plays well off of Washington’s Macbeth who is the film’s shining star. No stranger to Shakespeare, Denzel pulls off Macbeth masterfully, delivering dialogue full of characterization, never missing a beat as he dominates the film from start to finish as the tyrannical tragic hero. Even in the moments where the dialogue might become too heady, the audience is never in doubt of what Macbeth is talking about thanks to Washington’s brilliant performance, communicating with his body, face, and eyes what he is thinking and feeling right along with the excellent line delivery. His performance received nominations from the Oscars, SAGs, and BAFTAs along with plenty of other critical love, and it is well-deserving of being the first Shakespearean performance since Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V to garner such praises.
Denzel Washington carries The Tragedy of Macbeth on his shoulders with the help of Frances McDormand and the rest of the supporting cast and an incredibly well-crafted production design and cinematographic offering to make the film into something worthy of a place among the greats. Its lack of deviation from the source material might bore some, but its production value and acting more than make up for its straightforward interpretation of Shakespeare’s work. It is currently available to stream with an Apple TV+ subscription if you’re interested in watching it.
