Film studies

Saeed Shafloot, A01507995, CCA 3330, Film Assignment, 03/05/2015

How to be actual and funny when you deal with 400-years-old text

'Much Ado about Nothing' by Kenneth Branagh

Part 1: Review

Beautiful girls Gero and Beatrice in white dresses are sitting on the grass in the heart of Italian Toscana (jesting aside, it is really Toscana on the screen). So the girls are eating grape, reading poetry, and waiting for somebody to fall in love with them. And charming prince with his retinue is already coming and the adventures begin. There are love, jealousy, misunderstandings, death, regrets, and jokes, so many ageless Shakespeare's jokes in this forever-actual plot.

Kenneth Branagh is well-known for his cinema adaptation of Shakespeare's plays, he also shot 'Henry V' and 'Hamlet' and starred in 'Othello' by Oliver Parker. Branagh's movie 'Much Ado about Nothing' was the first sound version of this play in English released to cinemas.

There is no extremely “new point of view” on the classical play in this movie. First of all, Branagh does not make an attempt to bring the plot in nowadays circumstances as we saw it in another adaptation of 'Much Ado About Nothing' (2012) by Joss Whedon or in many other cinema versions of classic plays.

Branagh saves light comic convention of the plot and dramatic situations so the audiences are expected to believe in these 'game rules'. But anyway Branagh did not elude the modernism influences that dictate to redefine classical works and look for new shades in them. Branagh's version is ironic, light, and full of life. The text is classical, the locations and costumes are more or less historical, but the acting and production are absolutely modern.

First of all, this movie does not look like a boring theater play in the cinema. It is a good romantic comedy. Besides, one can find many famous actors’ names in the credits, like Keanu Reeves, Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Denzel Washington, and others. So, this movie might be interesting for public at large.

Also this adaptation would be recommended for those students who are too lazy to read Sheakspear's text and prefer to watch a film. This movie is very close to original text of the play and it gives reasonable notion about Sheakspear's work.

Part 2: Character Examination

Dogberry is an episodic character. It is the constable of night watch, but his part in the plot is very important. Only because of him the payoff is delaying in a certain moment and the plot is going to the high point. And Dogberry appears in this high point and solves the situation.

While reading the text one can see that this character is tedious and stupid, but assertive. He is chicken-hearted, though he wants everybody to think he is brave. So, he can arrest or hit somebody when there is no danger to get beans. Dogberry is quite despisable in the text of the play, but in the movie his features are very hyperbolic and developed.

Michael Keaton plays Dogberry's part in Branagh's adaptation. The actor contrived to make his part bright and remarkable. Keaton's Dogberry has filthy rig, his hair is fat, he shaved about a week ago. He is a sloven and always looks as flyblown in the night and like he has a bad hangover in the daytime. He always moves like if he is riding an invisible horse. It seems the horse is sold and the money is drunk away. Keaton's Dogberry is stupid, but it is because of alcohol. At the same time, we never see him with the bottle.

Michael Keaton acts gorgeously, he is very plastic and his facial gesture is killingly funny. He found the way how to convert Dogberry's tediousness and foolery into specific wit.

Part 3: The Entrapment of Benedick and Beatrice

These scenes are very dramatic and funny at the same time. Friends of Benedict decided to let him hear that Beatrice is in love with him. One moment later Beatrice's sister tells Beatrice about Benedict’s love. These scenes are very similar and they are directed evenly in the movie. Both scenes of original play were a little cut for the screenplay.

We can see the scene with Benedict from three points of view. First of all, we see it as if a detached observer and we can watch it from different angles. The cameramen shows close ups, uses crane and several cameras. So, the viewers are everywhere and they can see different places of the garden where the action is going on.

Secondly, the subjective view of Benedict. He is hiding in green bushes around courtyard and listening to the conversation of Claudio, Leonato, and Don Pedro. We see these three characters through the leaves and they are remote from viewers.

Finally, the third viewpoint is the position of Claudio, Leonato, and Don Pedro. They know that Benedict is hiding in the bushes and sometimes they can see him. Thanks to close ups we can see their emotions that are imperceptible for Benedict. The close-ups let the public see all face gestures and read the mood and thoughts of the character.

The scene with Beatrice is organized in the same way with similar points of view.

After the end of second scene it is clear that Benedict and Beatrice are almost in love with each other. To show this emotion the authors of the movie use double exposure, so we see both the image of Benedict jumping in the fountain and the image of Beatrice on the teeterboard.

The scene with Benedict starts from his monologue about women. Benedict (Kenneth Branagh) tells it with enormous pathos and eventually it shows us this character in a very ironic light.

Then Claudio, Leonato, and Don Pedro come and Benedict decides to hide himself. Don Pedro asks Baltasar to sing. During this song we see one long shoot that shows many small scenes acted by several groups of servants and singers in the yard. Tricky camera path and well-planned set-ups let us imagine bucolic and steady everyday life in Leonato's house. This is very filmic piece and no other genre of art could create so dynamic, informative, and floaty picture.

So, these two scenes were effective because of using camera motions, actors' movement in 3-detentions sets, different points of views (subjective camera), double exposure, and close-ups. All these devices create very dynamic and fascinating scenes.

Work Cited

A. O. Scottdec. Home Fires, Acridly Burning ‘August: Osage County,’ With Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. New York Times, Dec. 26, 2013. Web