癲狂院 Vixen Owl Cigar..。o○

"How Sweet the Moonlight Sleeps"..


A Turning of the Tables..
An Outstanding Movie with Gr8 actors like Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons.
The play written by William Shakespeare could not have been better done as in this movie.
It shows how things have been in former times between Christians and Jews.
Excellent location (Venice ) and costumes.
Outstanding performance by Al Pacino as Shylock.

The film is full of warm reds & golds and is like a beautiful Renaissance painting come to life.
The water scenes are lovely are as the shots of a night-time Venice peopled by nobles in masks with long noses.
The haunting music which provides the backdrop to the action is composed and arranged by Jocelyn Pook.
This movie helps bring the moral concepts to the fore -- they carry forward even with the diversions of the wildly colorful costumes and the elaborate settings.
A sense of morality often evolves as the product of empathy, and it is seen to be easier to evoke such empathy while looking at a ‘real ’ character, rather than a black & white sentence on a page.

This is an excellent production of Shakespeare's fine play.
The running time of 131 minutes passed in a flash.
The story of Shylock's daughter and her lover is not well explored in the film, but this does not detract from the compelling performances.
The story features love, loss, hatred and revenge and is totally engrossing.!!
Even if you don't like Shakespeare, you'll be able to relate to this enthralling tale.
If, like me, you're a Shakespeare buff, you'll love the way his words are translated onto the big screen.
This film is A Must-See.

【Jeremy Irons】Merchant of Venice【Al Pacino】
Beautiful & Riveting despite its Flaws...
Accessible Shakespeare
I approached this movie with some trepidation, mainly owing to the presence of Al Pacino as Shylock.
The only Shakespeare I had seen him attempt was his lead in Richard III.
I was less than impressed by his acting in that one.
I'm also always a little queasy about seeing screen attempts at encapsulating a three hour Shakespeare play in a two hour movie.
While I wasn't exactly delighted at the outcome of this attempt, there is a lot to recommend..
.. Thanks to some sure handed British directing and acting.
And Pacino underplays a role for a change (for the most part) and he handled his line readings with aplomb.

The problem with the script (and it is, along with MEASURE FOR MEASURE and THE WINTERS TALE, one of Shakespeare's "problem" plays to begin with, in that it is morally ambiguous ) is the obvious anti-semitism surrounding the moneylender Shylock.
The film actually opens with a kind of disclaimer reminding the audience that Renaissance attitudes towards Jews were not exactly politically correct.
Shakespeare's script certainly bears this out, which is one reason it still attracts negative criticism on many college campuses.

The acting is generally excellent, in fact.
Irons is solid, if not entirely convincing as Antonio.
Joseph Fiennes does yeoman work as Anonio's bosom buddy, Bassanio.
Lynn Collins as Portia is a positive revelation.
Her transformation to young male lawyer is dead on.
She plays a full range of emotions with utter ease.
Hers is the one truly award worthy performance in the movie.
Pacino does an outstanding job of remaining in character.
The usual Pacino vocal & physical tics are nowhere in evidence.
He obviously studied hard for the role and most of his choices are good ones.
The cinematography, consisting mainly of shots of Venice in all its resplendance, is extraordinary.

Radford & Company certainly perform no disservice to the bard in this production, which is saying a lot, actually.!!
I'd include it among some of the better recent attempts at bringing Shakespeare to the screen, along with Fishburn's OTHELLO and Branaugh's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
It's worth at the very least a rental when it comes out on DVD, but if you get a chance to see it in a theater first..
.. I recommend you avail yourself of the chance, if only to fully appreciate the cinematography.