LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST review

The world has given very little thought to a film that was made with so much heart that I am left wondering... Why?

Miramax slithered LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST out onto a handful of screens with zero fanfare and zero buzz.

I didn’t even know it was playing locally. Today, I woke up to hear Dad say, “Ya wanna go to that talking train movie?”

I stared at him... Wondered how much it would cost to place him in one of those full care places... you know where they roll the old people on their sides and wipe them... where they wheel them in a room to play chess with their own ghosts?

“Umm, No,” I say in an absolute stern, no way in hell, tone. I reached for the movie listings today and I’m flipping through them... COYOTE UGLY.... NUTTY PROFESSOR 2.... THE REPLACEMENTS... and on and on... Nothing that really made me go... Ew, Let’s see that.

So then I look at the theater listings... perhaps there is something that doesn’t have it’s poster plastered with quotes.. and that is when I saw LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST... playing on the smallest most hidden away, terrible sound and tiny screen in Austin.

We had an hour to get to the theater, drive in our un-air conditioned beast of a car through the 103 degree heat... I don’t know if it’s paint is peeling or my skin, but this is damn near unbearable.

As we hop in the car, the instant heat waves begin pouring off my cheeks.... I can’t wait to get in the theater... an oasis of cool chilled air, a good icy drink.... and hopefully a decent film.

As Father Geek and I sat there before the movie, we began talking about the modern movie musical.... How they are often times a series of quick shots, waist up of the actors, with insert footage of a quarter second of dance.

The trailers pour through... nothing of note....

Then the film began...

“Stanley Donen and Martin Scorsese presents:”

Hmmmmm, now I really don’t know what Scorsese had to do with this movie... But... I have an idea that Stanley Donen and Kenneth Branagh’s time they spent together had to do with a great deal of silence on the part of Branagh.

The musical interludes in LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST are a splendid blending of highlight reels of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s musical numbers. The use of color is very much in complete keeping of the Stanley Donen musicals of the Fifties.... But more important than the choreography of the dancers... was the choreography of the camera. You see...unlike 95% of the modern movie musicals.... the camera knows to keep the performers in frame... head to toe for long takes...

This was taught to every musical director worth their salt by Fred Astaire. And it is a lesson that should also be kept close to the heart of anyone wanting to do martial arts or swordfighting on screen.

I had read somewhere, that someone was reminded of James Cagney in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY when they saw Branagh’s performance in this film, and I would have to nix that. Actually... it reminds me more of his performance in FOOTLIGHT PARADE.

You see... In YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, Cagney was at the height of his ability and performing skills... His George M Cohan was a textured and deeply resonant character... and his dancing and singing were iconic beyond any and all belief. FOOTLIGHT PARADE (one of my top 20 films) he was rougher around the edges... His dancing and singing not quite in top form yet, but bustling from the barely contained enthusiasm that he pounded every tap and sung every note. Branagh falls just shy of that. Just barely.

Kenneth is more graceful... less sugar more sedate. He’s mixing a bit more Astaire... that... ‘oh this is soooo easy’ look upon his brow. Nothing takes an effort... you just... gliiiiide.

Branagh is the perfect performer in this film. Noone is as well balanced as he in singing, dancing and emoting the very essence of his character in both while also nailing to the letter the Shakespearean dialogue and making it feel like a really true tongue that people speak. Effortlessly.

Now... at this stage of the game, you should be made aware this is not a classic A musical. This is very much a classic B musical. This is not SINGING IN THE RAIN or AN AMERICAN IN PARIS or TOP HAT or 42ND STREET or any of those.... This is closer to SILK STOCKINGS or WONDER BAR... almost exactly at the level of WONDER BAR.

Now... I love WONDER BAR. But it is almost completely unknown to the world. The musical numbers are all solid... with no truly outstanding number with the exception of the whip dance... In WONDER BAR... it was a strange musical mixing of a crime/film noir type aesthetic (pre-film noir though). Imagine if in CASABLANCA... every 9 minutes there was a musical interlude with full blown dancing and singing by everyone including Rick.

In LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST... just as in WONDER BAR, the musical has been applied to a genre that... well, it hadn’t been placed in before... the Shakespearean world. The result? Well, something refreshing and different.

I have an ear for Shakespeare. I adore his verses and his rhymes... his acute play on dialogue and his quips. And the insertion of the songs tend to flow straight out of the dialogue. At first it feels like quite a bit of a jar... but by the second transition, it’s simply the style of the film.

But make no bones about this.... THIS IS A MUSICAL. And as a lover of the genre, I can tell you this is not a bad one. It is not a great one. It is a good one. When a musical is not a great musical, I pull up my list of criteria with which I judge all musicals.

1. How are the songs?

answer: These songs are all classics, with new arrangements. They are of course great songs, not being performed in their greatest incarnation... though I would argue strongly that YOU CAN’T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME... might very well be the best in both performance and on-screen depiction in terms of serving the dramatics of the story, that I have ever seen or heard.

2. How are the dance numbers?

Answer: I loved them. These are not the sheer acrobatics of the Gene Kelly or Nicholas Brothers variety... this is the dance of Astaire and the choreography of the fifties. Each dance number punched a nostalgia button for me. And none of the performers were bad... but... what I loved... was that they seemed like real people under the magical spell of a musical. You see... for me, the reason I prefer FOOTLIGHT PARADE over 42nd Street is that... in FOOTLIGHT... they seemed like real honest people celebrating the joy of singing and dancing in front of an audience... and not self serious performers. Here... the dance is birthed out of a joy and an exhilaration for living and loving. What better reason than to sing and dance?

3. Is there one number that I won’t shake?

Answer: Yes, that You Can’t Take That Away From Me.... ohmygod, I love that number. From the building side, to the Casablanca lift off... I loved it. The dramatics of the moment sent shivers... The intonations and sincerity in Branagh’s eyes, and the sad sort of smile... Wonderful. I loved it. BRAVO.

And that’s it. In a musical, I am not looking at acting or dialogue or story. I’m looking at the numbers... It’s sort of like a kung fu movie or a swashbuckler... Now... if perchance, the acting and the performances soar and are brilliant... than by Jove, you have a classic. All of a sudden you’ve been sold the entire bill of goods and you are ecstatic.

Here... almost everything works... the only flaws were in the casting of Alicia Silverstone and Matt Lillard. Both just simply do not do the dialogue justice. It’s just not there for them. They both look divine dancing. Lillard is the best dancing physique in the film, in a tux the guy looks built to be an Astaire clone.... However... when Alicia is asked to perform a long Shakespearean monologue... her tortured ruptured Stallone lips contort and quiver into their own spasm of distraction... so much so that you are left staring at those lips wondering... does she know they do that? In HOLLOW MAN recently you see Elizabeth Shue being kissed by the Invisible Man and suddenly you understand how Alicia’s mouth works... there is a cruel invisible specter screwing with her lips while she speaks... and nobody notices it... until it is displayed on screen. And Lillard... His one level of performance is to smile as if told he gets to tickle the bound girl on the table till she wees herself. That’s it. But when trapped into singing and dancing... he’s fine... as is Alicia... But Shakespeare? It’s like Keanu in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING... sigh... tragic casting.

Instead, the best metaphor I can think of for LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST is this:

I just returned from Spain where the most liquid I could order came in 10 ounce glasses or less. Upon returning, I went immediately to a restaurant in town and had a gigantic never empty glass of Iced Tea. Love’s Labour’s Lost is that glass of Iced Tea. Totally and completely refreshing.

The reason this review is sooooooo late in coming is that the film has just recently opened in Austin, and Miramax had not arranged a screening for me to see it in advance. Though they might very well of had a press screening... I was out of the country and not in Austin for a great deal of time in the last 30 days. That is all...