Not being a Shakespeare aficionado, I can't fault this beautifully shot and acted film. I read that the director studied Hamlet for years, and long pondered over what kind of style he should bring to his adaptation. In the end, he wanted to adapt film technique to the play and not the other way around. The end result: it looks both like a classical version, and manages to be highly innovative in its use of landscape, space, music, and bits of acting. The 'To Be..' soliloquy is particularly memorable, as is the appearance of the ghost. By the end of this film, I felt I understood Hamlet, his reasons for procrastinating, his foul treatment of poor Ophelia, his all devouring gloom. The other actor who shone for me here was the one who played Claudius - perfectly cast. In fact, the characters and costumes look like an illustrated Shakespeare volume come to life, while the locations in Estonia and Crimea are unforgettable and add to the drama. The only difficulty for the non-Russian speaker is reading the subtitles quickly enough.
Review of Hamlet
