Word: branagh
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Richard Corliss is entitled to his negative opinion of Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost, which I found utterly delightful. But his dismissal of Branagh as a filmmaker can't go unchallenged [CINEMA, June 12]. Branagh remains the most consistently exciting and dedicated interpreter of Shakespeare in our time, a filmmaker of heart, intelligence and originality. One moviegoer was heard to remark about Branagh after seeing the film, "He's so fearless I could kiss him!" That's a rare enough quality, and one the world of cinema should see more often. JANE LAND Larchmont...
...only pity the high-minded critics who can't bask in the giddy happiness and joy exuded by the film's sweet innocence, enthusiastic cast and homage to a world long lost. Branagh is our greatest living Shakespearean. Any talk of his decline is just much ado about nothing. NGOC VU San Jose, Calif...
Shakespeare will survive this distortion. So will Branagh; he is, above all, an energetic entrepreneur. But we must look elsewhere for an actor of classical grace and modern power who will be not the next Olivier but the next Ken Branagh...
After his burly film of Henry V, his al fresco Much Ado About Nothing and his all-the-words Hamlet, Branagh devises a high-concept Love's Labour's Lost. Hey, kids, let's cut most of the text, put in 10 classic show tunes and set the story in a mythical European kingdom at the start of World War II. He has cast it with young actors, many of whom have done little Shakespeare and less musical theater. So the Clueless Alicia Silverstone is the princess; Scream's Matthew Lillard and Face/Off's Alessandro Nivola join Branagh...
Most of the people couldn't be prettier. The ladies' dresses are glamorously revealing (this is one of the most bosom-obsessed movies since Russ Meyer retired). There's a nice use of the Anglo-African actors Lester and Carmen Ejogo; Branagh pairs them off with white co-stars. And in the director's familiar long takes, some of the dance numbers do work up a pleasing tension...