Perhaps tempered by exponentially growing budgets (4 mill for THE WITCH/’15; 11 on THE LIGHTHOUSE/19; now up to 60), this third project from gifted writer/director Robert Eggers is both highly accomplished & disappointingly conventional. Visually an art-house blockbuster manqué with brooding landscapes fit for any freshman dorm room; in content an early iteration of Hamlet, like a second cousin thrice-removed; it's a museum instillation you admire but are unmoved by. Alexander Skarsgård makes a stunning beast as Amleth, the Hamlet character, running away from his dad-murdering/mom-marrying uncle only to return all grown up for revenge. Those who know HAMLET will get a kick out of the differences (Nicole Kidman’s Mom in on the plot; the Ophelia character sane & fertile; a guilt-free Uncle Claudius; a doubt-free avenging son; etc .), but also note missing character & narrative interest. You only have to recall the immediate vibrations of Denmark being a country out of whack triggered right at the start when the wrong person (the visitor not the guard) asks ‘Who goes there’ to see the difference genius makes. Though certainly a worthwhile watch, much of Eggers’ complicated staging techniques start to feel like efforts to camouflage rather than reveal. Hopefully, the film’s relatively soft grosses will safeguard him from a soul-sucking call placed by the ubiquitous folks of MARVEL to the talented Mr. Eggers.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Eggers two other pics: THE WITCH and THE LIGHTHOUSE. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-witch-2015.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-lighthouse-2019.html OR: Ethan Hawke, over-parted in the Claudius spot here, had the lead in Michael Almereyda’s modernized HAMLET/’00. (not seen here)
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