Othello
Othello is about Iago, who has been passed over for promotion, plots to get even with his superior the Moor Othello, and the more favored Cassio. He does so by sowing the seeds of jealousy in Othello, convincing him that his wife, Desdemona, had been cuckolding him with Cassio. Like any good Shakespeare tragedy, almost everybody dies in the end. Starring Lawrence Fishburne, Kenneth Branagh, Nathaniel Parker, Irene Jacob, and Anna Patrick, this is probably one of the Bard's better tales of love and revenge.
Good points: The costuming is well-above average with special notice to the Doge's hat, Iago's tunic, and especially the Spanish blackwork on Desdemona's father's tunic. The soundtrack really added to the mood, the locations were wonderful, and the camera work was a joy to watch.
However, Iago speaks directly to the camera so often that it becomes disconcerting. And Desdemona's dress in the dance scene -chiffon sleeves over bare arms-Tsk, tsk, tsk. (Now, if she'd had some decent undersleeves) And the richest men and women in Venice did not wear one stitch of Venetian lace.
Academy Award nominations to Lawrence Fishburne as Othello for bringing the mental anguish of his character to life, and for showing more depth as an actor that we had realized from What's Love Got To Do With It; to Kenneth Branagh as Iago for lying so well so often to so many; and to Anna Patrick as Emilia for "They [men] are but stomachs, and we [women] but food."
David Appleton
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LadyJanet@RenaissanceMagazine.com