Summer of Netflix Day 59 - Coriolanus

Chris: This is the 2nd Shakespeare adaptation we’ve seen in Summer of Netflix and, like Much Ado, Coriolanus is given a modern setting. Coriolanus isn’t exactly one of Shakespeare’s famous plays as it’s one rarely even performed or discussed so it’s easy to go into this movie without knowing anything about the play. I enjoyed this particular portrayal because it felt like a longer/better written episode of Kings, the short-lived NBC drama that depicted the early days of King David in a modern setting and I’m sure I’m the only die-hard fan of this show. Both have that militant/geo-politics modernness setting but with language that often feels epic but not quite out-of-place, at least that’s how it felt to me. Also, I’ve really gotten into FX’s drama, Tyrant and has some of those same elements. This was Ralph Fiennes directorial debut as well as playing the titular character with Gerard Butler playing Aufidius, however, it’s Vanessa Redgrave that steals the show with her character’s monologue at the end. This is one of those Shakespeare adaptation where a lot of information is being thrown around in language that takes a little longer to wrap your head around so, as it is an enjoyable movie, I would advise people to watch it with subtitles.

Joel: I too can’t help but draw comparisons between this movie and the Shakespeare adaptation we saw earlier in the summer, Much Ado About Nothing. In both cases the movie chose the gimmick of using traditional Shakespearean dialogue in a modern setting. But my personal knowledge of Shakespeare also had an effect on watching the movie. In the case of Much Ado, it was one of Shakespeare's more popular plays that I was pretty familiar with and read it at some point in school, and for the most part knew what to expect coming into the movie. Coriolanus on the other hand is a play that I knew far less about. Like most of the population I’d never read it before or seen any other adaptation (in part because this is the first movie version of this play ever) so I didn’t know what to expect beyond the very basic outline of the story that I already knew. The way Shakespeare is taught these days, you read a play, study the play, discuss the play, learn about the symbolism and why the jokes that aren’t all that funny were really hysterical back in Shakespeare’s time, all before you ever just sit back and watch the play. But not knowing what to expect was a real blessing here. True I missed a lot of the individual lines. And the more I tried to mentally interpret each line as it was being said, the more I got lost. But then I just started to watch the movie. It’s a great cast that’s been assembled here and they handle the script masterfully and without fear. Just letting the movie play out, you may not know exactly what is being said with every little line, but the story starts to really come together and the characters come to life. It’s probably the only time I’ll ever get to watch a Shakespeare story and say “I wonder what’s going to happen.” And I’m really glad I got to experience that feeling.