Titus Andronicus is not Shakespeare's worst play (try Pericles) but after being one of his most popular on the Elizabethan stage, its stock has fallen badly due to its ruthless brutality, violence and non-stop action. Betting that these qualities may have come back into vogue is not a bad risk.
That doesn't make this a great play--there are dramatic problems that a director needs to solve. Aaron is a method actor's nightmare, a man with no motivation except a desire to be bad. A good director has to find a reason for his bitterness. Titus has the most ambivalent attitude toward his children; at the beginning of the play he seems to regret having sacrificed them to the wars, he is devastated when two of his sons are sentenced to death, but he himself stabs and kills not only one of his sons for protecting his daughter's honour, but the daughter to boot. The scenes of Marcus discovering the mute Lavinia and the frame-up of Titus's sons by Aaron are quite unconvincing without directorial help.
Instead of tackling these problems, Julie Taymor seems to say "Don't worry if it isn't believable--it's all a dream, or a fantasy, or an allegory, or something, so we don't have to believe it." This is a cop-out. And because it's a cop-out, the attempts to introduce imagery which makes the movie look like a dream, fantasy, allegory, or something don't work. Rather than reinforcing the movement of the drama they try to distract us from it.
The smart approach to this blood-and-guts thriller would be to keep the story moving at breakneck speed, cutting the text and providing graphic and concrete images in an easily assimilated setting (rather like what Zeffirelli did to Hamlet). Instead we get the exact opposite. The ending, instead of thrilling climax, has the action slowed to a dead stop as we watch the same image for three minutes. Sure, it moves, but so does your screen saver.
Even if we admit the legitimacy of using symbolical or allegorical images in a story like this, they have to build up to a pattern to be effective. We start off with a kid wearing a paper bag on his head making a mess with war toys and his lunch. Is what follows his war-play seen from the toys' perspective? Is it a dream-lesson to reprove him for his pointless destruction? Is it a foreshadowing of Titus' revenge on Tamora? We never find out because we never see the kitchen table, the war toys, or the paper bag again.
Don't fault the actors for the director's problems; with the exception of Tamora's sons, the acting is fine, particularly Hopkins (who has forgotten more Shakespeare than Taymor will ever know), Lange, Laura Fraser, and Harry J. Lennix. Lennix gets the chance to step out of Aaron's cardboard cut-out Snidely Whiplash persona when the nurse brings him his child; what follows is the best scene in the film.
Presenting a little-known play is a risk. Presenting odd-ball Shakespeare is also a risk. Using anachronisms and other dream-like or fantastic imagery in a movie is a risk as well. These things wouldn't be risky if the chances of failure and the amount of effort required for success weren't greater than usual. Sadly, although Taymor was prepared to take the risks, she was not prepared to make the extra effort.
For the performances of the actors, the bravery of the attempt, the Stomp performance during the opening titles, and one or two shining scenes this deserves 6 out of 10
That doesn't make this a great play--there are dramatic problems that a director needs to solve. Aaron is a method actor's nightmare, a man with no motivation except a desire to be bad. A good director has to find a reason for his bitterness. Titus has the most ambivalent attitude toward his children; at the beginning of the play he seems to regret having sacrificed them to the wars, he is devastated when two of his sons are sentenced to death, but he himself stabs and kills not only one of his sons for protecting his daughter's honour, but the daughter to boot. The scenes of Marcus discovering the mute Lavinia and the frame-up of Titus's sons by Aaron are quite unconvincing without directorial help.
Instead of tackling these problems, Julie Taymor seems to say "Don't worry if it isn't believable--it's all a dream, or a fantasy, or an allegory, or something, so we don't have to believe it." This is a cop-out. And because it's a cop-out, the attempts to introduce imagery which makes the movie look like a dream, fantasy, allegory, or something don't work. Rather than reinforcing the movement of the drama they try to distract us from it.
The smart approach to this blood-and-guts thriller would be to keep the story moving at breakneck speed, cutting the text and providing graphic and concrete images in an easily assimilated setting (rather like what Zeffirelli did to Hamlet). Instead we get the exact opposite. The ending, instead of thrilling climax, has the action slowed to a dead stop as we watch the same image for three minutes. Sure, it moves, but so does your screen saver.
Even if we admit the legitimacy of using symbolical or allegorical images in a story like this, they have to build up to a pattern to be effective. We start off with a kid wearing a paper bag on his head making a mess with war toys and his lunch. Is what follows his war-play seen from the toys' perspective? Is it a dream-lesson to reprove him for his pointless destruction? Is it a foreshadowing of Titus' revenge on Tamora? We never find out because we never see the kitchen table, the war toys, or the paper bag again.
Don't fault the actors for the director's problems; with the exception of Tamora's sons, the acting is fine, particularly Hopkins (who has forgotten more Shakespeare than Taymor will ever know), Lange, Laura Fraser, and Harry J. Lennix. Lennix gets the chance to step out of Aaron's cardboard cut-out Snidely Whiplash persona when the nurse brings him his child; what follows is the best scene in the film.
Presenting a little-known play is a risk. Presenting odd-ball Shakespeare is also a risk. Using anachronisms and other dream-like or fantastic imagery in a movie is a risk as well. These things wouldn't be risky if the chances of failure and the amount of effort required for success weren't greater than usual. Sadly, although Taymor was prepared to take the risks, she was not prepared to make the extra effort.
For the performances of the actors, the bravery of the attempt, the Stomp performance during the opening titles, and one or two shining scenes this deserves 6 out of 10