7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Showing events from the point of view of two minor characters from Hamlet, men who have no control over their destiny, this film examines fate and asks if we can ever really know what's going on?
Starring: Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, Iain Glen, Ian RichardsonComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are two of the least important characters in Shakespeare—or at
least they used to be. In 1966, writer Tom Stoppard promoted them to the leads in his first major
play, creating a modern classic and making the title Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead a
familiar catchphrase even for people who aren't quite sure in which Shakespeare play the duo
appears. For the record, the play is Hamlet, and Stoppard's title is a line from Act V. One of the
many ironies of Stoppard's prolific career is that he's best known for a phrase he didn't write
himself.
Now 78, Stoppard is one of England's leading writers, despite the fact (or maybe because of it)
that English isn't his native tongue. (His family fled Czechoslovakia in 1939 ahead of the Nazi
occupation.) For over half a century, he has written for screen, stage and television, racking up
both commercial success and an array of awards, including an Oscar and a knighthood. Despite
his many screen credits (including a rewrite of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Stoppard
considers himself primarily a playwright and has routinely refused offers to transfer his plays to
the screen. To date, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—or "Ros/Guil", in an abbreviation chosen by
the author himself—is his only play to be filmed. Stoppard wrote the screenplay and, because of
financing quirks, he also directed, for the first and only time.
Ros/Guil picked up the Golden Lion at the 1990 Venice Film Festival and received favorable
reviews when it was released to theaters the following year, but no one expected a Shakespeare-themed film to become a popular hit. (The exception
that proves the rule, Shakespeare in Love,
was co-written by Stoppard.) Fans of the film had to wait until 2005 to get it on DVD. Image,
which released that disc, has now issued the film on Blu-ray, including a new interview with the
writer/director.
G: No, no, no . . . Death is "not". Death isn't. Take my meaning? Death is the ultimate negative. Not-being. You can't "not be" on a boat.
R: I've frequently not been on boats.
G: No, no . . . What you've been is "not on boats".
R: Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it. It never occurred to me at all. We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the word for it. Before we know that there are words. Out we come, bloodied and squalling, with the knowledge that for all the points of the compass, there's only one direction. And time is its only measure.
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead was shot on film by Oscar-winning Welsh
cinematographer Peter Biziou (Mississippi Burning),
whom Stoppard credits for the film's visual
appeal. RLJ/Image Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray presents a solid, film-like
transfer, with sufficient detail to pick up the extensive rock formations and woodlands through
which the lead characters make their journey to Elsinore, as well as the ornate decor of the royal
court. (Ros/Guil was shot in the former Yugoslavia, which gives the locale an exotic,
otherwordly quality.) The film's grain has been retained and will strike some viewers as
objectionably heavy in certain shots that appear to have been either shot in low light or, possibly,
blown up in post-production. The image also suffers from occasional video noise, e.g., in the
opening shot when the camera is furthest from the figures on horseback. Otherwise, contrast is
good, black levels are appropriate, and the color palette establishes a suitable contrast between
the earth-toned bystanders, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the brighter colors of just about
everyone else. The source material is in very good condition, and except for the aforementioned
video noise and a touch of light sharpening here and there, no anomalies or distortions appeared.
Image/RLJ has mastered Ros/Guil with an average bitrate of 24.89 Mbps, which is adequate
when one considers the number of scenes where the "action" is primarily verbal.
Ros/Guil's original stereo soundtrack has been encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. It's a modest affair, with clearly recorded dialogue and only an occasional sound effect that takes advantage of stereo separation. (An early example is the distant cry of a wild animal when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are camped out in a forest.) The most elaborate sound effects are those accompanying the performances of the Player King's troupe. Stanley Myer (The Boost) composed the spare score.
The extras include the four interviews previously appearing on Image's 2005 two-disc DVD
edition of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. These are preceded by a new "25th
Anniversary" interview with playwright and director Tom Stoppard. All of the interviews were
done by the film's producer, Michael Brandman, and all of them range broadly over the entire
career of the interviewee. Thus, Stoppard speaks about his other work (in both the old and new
interviews), while Roth, Oldman and Dreyfuss discuss their acting careers in general. Ross, for
example, talk about making Reservoir Dogs, while
Oldman speaks of his admiration for Francis
Ford Coppola, for whom he starred in Bram Stoker's
Dracula. All of the interviews are
worthwhile, even for those who are not fans of Ros/Guil.
Stoppard's plays became more realistic and less evasive as his career progressed, but he has only
recently become interested in translating any of the later works to film. (In the new interview, he
discloses that he recently completed a screen adaptation of Arcadia, a tale about romance and
physics, which many consider his best work.) At least for now, Ros/Guil is unique in being the
sole Stoppard creation that is readily available for anyone outside the theater-going public.
Image/RLJ's presentation is solid and serviceable, with unusually good extras. Recommended,
though not as a blind buy. Stoppard's world isn't for everyone.
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The Magic Flute / Royal Opera, Covent Garden
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Warner Archive Collection
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