Shakespeare's greatest plays have always lent themselves to a wide spectrum of interpretation and adaptation, but this contemporary rendition of Twelfth Night mostly demonstrates the pitfalls of taking too many liberties with the Bard. Produced for British TV, this ill-conceived production of Shakespeare's comedy of disguise and mistaken identity is a rather dour affair, transposing the action to a lush, romanticized contemporary London, where the plot becomes unnecessarily confusing and off-putting to anyone who's not already familiar with it. Give credit to director Tim Supple for attempting a multiracial take on the tale, emphasizing Hindi culture with the casting of Parminder Nagra (from Bend it Like Beckham) as Viola, an Indian stowaway to the land of Illyria, who poses as the male “Cesario” but falls in love with Orsino (Chiwitel Ejiofor), even as Olivia (Claire Price) is attracted to "Cesario," and twin brother Sebastian (Ronny Jhutti) thinks Viola has drowned! Unfortunately, the fun of these confused relationships is largely drained away by Supple's heavy-handed, melancholy take on the material. Packaged with Michael Bogdanov's 1998 modern adaptation of Macbeth, starring Sean Pertwee and Greta Scacchi, this two-fer of lesser versions of Shakespeare classics may be of interest to buffs and scholars, but is otherwise not a necessary purchase. (J. Shannon)
Twelfth Night/Macbeth
Home Vision, 2 discs, 102/88 min., not rated, DVD: $29.95 Volume 20, Issue 3
Twelfth Night/Macbeth
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: