“By the pricking of my thumbs,Something wicked this way comes,” wrote William Shakespeare in Macbeth. Nowhere is that more evident than in Joel Coen’s Tragedy of Macbeth.
We’ve had a dozen or more versions of Macbeth and why should we invest in this latest rendition directed by Joel Coen. This version is stylistically and visually stunning. It also cuts back a bit on the text and gives us the core of this harrowing play. Coen purposely shot this film in haunting black and white, giving the impression to the audience that we are in a perpetual state of flux. We know a crime is about to be committed and we can feel it.
While Joel Coen’s direction is tight, it is complimented by the visual team of Belbonnel and Dechant. Bruno Belbonnel’s cinematography is stellar and helps translate Coen’s adapted screenplay. Stefan Dechant matches Belbonnel’s pictures with the minimalist set design adding to the coldness of the movie. Everything is vast, gray, and chilling. The courtyards and stairs give the effect that guilt and death are among us.
This explains why Coen gives us so few exterior shots on purpose. It’s strange in an effective way, and the fogginess on screen adds to the chaos. If you’re familiar with the Coen brothers’ work, you’ll notice echoes of their previous film, “The Man Who Wasn’t There.”
Frances McDormand (Joel’s wife and collaborator) appears in “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” as she has in previous productions of his, this time as Lady Macbeth. She is the mastermind behind this heinous plot, and it is she who persuades her husband that King Duncan must die. McDormand, as usual, embraces all that is Lady Macbeth. The chemistry between her and Washington is hauntingly beautiful.
Denzel Washington plays the troubled Scottish King in a career-defining performance. He’s tired of assisting a King who doesn’t value him. In this film, Washington’s entire demeanor is strong. He is commanding, when necessary, but also vulnerable in tight shots where he is wary of everyone and everything around him. He also gives in to his wife’s demands for her advice, leading to his demise.
“The Tragedy of Macbeth” does an amazing job of showing Macbeth’s paranoia and anger. We also see Lady’s Macbeth deteriorate into fear and hell. While Washington’s delivery is deliberate, McDormand’s is precise. The contrast adds to the film’s atmosphere. They are two masters creating masterful art.
Corey Hawkins as “MacDuff” is another standout performance in this film. Hawkins, a Juilliard graduate, is at ease with the material, it’s obvious. MacDuff is consumed by guilt for abandoning his wife and child. His character suffers the greatest loss, but he must swing the sword to put things right.
There are many speeches for the title character to regurgitate, as there are in all of Shakespeare’s plays. Often leaving some of the work’s detractors in the dust, Washington makes the material more palatable and with an ease that draws the viewer into his interpretation of Macbeth’s despair. It’s clear in the scene where he sees the floating dagger and Banquo’s ghost. We, the audience, do not have a say in the visuals, so we must rely on him, the artist, to take us on that journey.
The pacing of this film is also a plus. It’s not slow, but it’s quick. It gives you a few moments to catch your breath before returning you to the action. “The Tragedy of Macbeth” doesn’t waste a single frame of film and manages to make you fall in love with a play that has far too often been staged as a belabored and overworked production. This Macbeth is violent and stirs your soul, making you wonder where it was when we were studying it in high school English.
The Tragedy of Macbeth starts streaming on Apple TV + on Jan. 14.
Originally published at https://www.phillytrib.com on January 11, 2022.
