2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – R#J

R#J, 2021.

Co-written and directed by Carey Williams.
Starring Camaron Engels, Francesca Noel, David Zayas, Diego Tinoco, Siddiq Saunderson, and Russell Hornsby.

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SYNOPSIS:

A contemporary-day adaptation of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy “Romeo and Juliet.”

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A film adaptation of The Bard’s hottest play for the Instagram set has the plain potential to be fully unbearable, and but, Carey Williams’ daring debut harnesses simply sufficient beguiling talent and slipperiness to show itself worthwhile.

Maybe each era will get the Romeo and Juliet film they deserve; Baz Luhrman’s 1996 take completely captured the edgy gloss of the MTV era with its staccato enhancing and marrow-rich colors, whereas if nothing else, this new take for the social media era captures trendy youth in all of its openness, sensitivity, and sure, narcissism.

You recognize the essential beats of the story, that are boldly recontextualised by a contemporary-adjacent time interval and filmmaking type that transpires nearly completely throughout its characters’ telephones. From the second that the play’s iconic prologue is splayed over an Instagram roll of the focal characters, Williams demonstrates a willingness to leap in with each ft but make little effort to mediate the expertise for the non-social media-savvy.

It could be honest to name R#J a little bit of a sensory assault at occasions – notably if, like me, you don’t use Instagram – its dizzying scrolls by social feeds fairly completely reflecting how smartphones and social media have fully overhauled the human expertise, making a digital itch that so desperately begs to be scratched. Viewers who do pay additional particular consideration and even periodically pause the movie, although, will discover many amusing Easter eggs scattered among the many varied feeds for mere fractions of a second.

This setup permits Williams and co-writers Rickie Castaneda and Oleksii Sobolev to reconfigure Shakespeare’s drama by the lens of Social Media Drama; within the case of Mercutio (Siddiq Saunderson) and Tybalt’s (Diego Tinoco) eventual battle, this implies the fisticuffs are after all livestreamed, full with a dropped connection for poor Romeo (Camaron Engels).

However most attention-grabbing is how Williams reworks the textual content’s romance to replicate up to date courting rituals; Romeo will get in contact with Juliet (Francesca Noel) on-line after discovering her art work at a celebration, resulting in an Instagram comply with and chit-chat punctuated by emojis and GIFs from The Workplace. Although there’s an inherently jarring issue to the still-Shakespearean spoken dialogue juxtaposed in opposition to the not-remotely-Shakespearean texting, Williams remains to be profitable sufficient in bringing trendy emotional context to a supply numbering over 400 years outdated.

What passes for humour all through is actually uneven, however does at the very least really feel prefer it captures trendy youth of their current. Shakespeare’s nice love of misunderstandings in the meantime feels completely ripe for a revision in a present period so usually outlined by misinformation and “pretend information,” which Williams takes blunt however efficient benefit of all through, given how a lot of the drama is stirred by viral rumblings of issues that, maybe, didn’t really occur.

There’s additionally a transparent want to include the realities of being a teenager at the moment; the ever-extroverted Mercutio is a lover of cocaine, whereas the broader story involving the warring Capulet and Montague households is inextricably tied to the Black Lives Matter motion, at the same time as Prince Escalus is well reinterpreted as a black police captain, Prince (Russell Hornsby).

And although the reaching for forex has its clunky moments, the excessive vitality stage is so persistent all through that Williams by no means dares to linger on one concept for too lengthy throughout his 91 minutes. Moreover, Williams is a pure stylist and makes essentially the most of his sunny California setting, filling the display screen with wealthy, popping colors as if itself processed by an Insta filter.

The dreamlike, shallow focus combines with a predominant 4:3 ratio to provide the movie a singular aesthetic regardless of the rising abundance of “screencast” movies, even when some odd act intertitles add nothing and a few digital telephone display screen cracks close to the top of the movie look fairly hideous.

R#J’s completely unqualified success lies with its spectacular ensemble forged, all of whom convey stable conviction to their components whereas reinventing them for the now. As our star-crossed leads, Camaron Engels and Francesca Noel share a simple, palpable chemistry, all of the extra spectacular on condition that they spend the majority of the movie speaking by screens quite than in individual.

The straightforward spotlight, nonetheless, must be Siddiq Saunderson, whose high-wire Mercutio is a campy delight even when contemplating the good pantheon of Mercutios we’ve been given over time. As one of many few “identify” actors current, David Zayas can be well-cast within the position of Juliet’s amusingly surly father.

However the chemistry between the forged is unlikely to sway these pre-prepared to detest the adjustments made to the supply materials, the marriage reimagined as a weird branding ritual as a result of, actually, the marriage wouldn’t actually make sense in a contemporary romantic panorama. Juliet’s suicide is livestreamed, after all – maybe inadvertently amplifying the criticism of Shakespeare’s personal play as glamorising suicide – but the finale provides up a genuinely diverting rug-pull which serves as a intelligent testomony to social media’s reality-shaping energy.

Although I’m under no circumstances the audience for a movie like this, it’s powerful to disclaim the expertise of the artists concerned, shrewdly remixing Shakespeare in some really sudden methods. Whether or not it will really enchantment to the youth of at present, although, I’ve completely no concept.

Flickering Fantasy Ranking – Movie: ★ ★ ★ / Film: ★ ★ ★

Shaun Munro – Comply with me on Twitter for extra movie rambling.


 

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