Shakespeare isn't for everyone, and it certainly isn't for me. I might be the most critical person of his plays (and film adaptations), so go ahead and take my criticism for Franco Zeffirelli's famed Romeo and Juliet with a grain of salt. I appreciate the art direction and costume design (but my compliments do not extend to the hairstyles, which are clearly from 1968), but I wish Zeffirelli's direction had extended to his actors. It takes a special actor to be able to translate Shakespeare-ease into English, and no one in this movie was able to do that for me.
I can only hope my mother doesn't read my review, as she loves literally everything about this movie and also believes herself to look like the lead actress, Olivia Hussey. (It might not help matters that she had an old beau from high school who she believed looked like the lead actor, Leonard Whiting.) To her, it's masterfully directed and perfectly acted so that the Shakespearean language was easy to understand. She's memorized passages and recites them alongside the actors when she watches the film, while dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief. The nearly-age-appropriate children in their roles, in her opinion, embodied every sweet, irresistible emotion of first love.
In my opinion, this version isn't perfect. After my initial viewing, when I was younger than Juliet was supposed to have been, I have never been able to sit through it in its entirety. I detest the story, and I found no one endearing or reminding me of what it was like to fall in love while entirely innocent (which is a debatable point of the story anyway). I could probably write a tome about why I dislike the story itself so much, but I won't bore you. Sufficed to say, if you've been secretly hating this movie for years, you're not alone. Join my club, and we won't tell our mothers.
I can only hope my mother doesn't read my review, as she loves literally everything about this movie and also believes herself to look like the lead actress, Olivia Hussey. (It might not help matters that she had an old beau from high school who she believed looked like the lead actor, Leonard Whiting.) To her, it's masterfully directed and perfectly acted so that the Shakespearean language was easy to understand. She's memorized passages and recites them alongside the actors when she watches the film, while dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief. The nearly-age-appropriate children in their roles, in her opinion, embodied every sweet, irresistible emotion of first love.
In my opinion, this version isn't perfect. After my initial viewing, when I was younger than Juliet was supposed to have been, I have never been able to sit through it in its entirety. I detest the story, and I found no one endearing or reminding me of what it was like to fall in love while entirely innocent (which is a debatable point of the story anyway). I could probably write a tome about why I dislike the story itself so much, but I won't bore you. Sufficed to say, if you've been secretly hating this movie for years, you're not alone. Join my club, and we won't tell our mothers.