IMDb RATING
6.0/10
2.4K
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A modern take on Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. Set at an isolated all-boys military academy, it follows the forbidden relationship between two cadets.A modern take on Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. Set at an isolated all-boys military academy, it follows the forbidden relationship between two cadets.A modern take on Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. Set at an isolated all-boys military academy, it follows the forbidden relationship between two cadets.
- Awards
- 1 win
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Did you know
- TriviaThe scenes of the cadet school and the lessons of the play "Romeo and Juliet" are in desaturated colors, gray, khaki, and pale. The scenes depicting the actual Shakespearean scenes are exhibited in deeply saturated colors.
- GoofsIn the first military drill, the orders are "left-right, left-right." The visuals are right-left, right-left. The "dress right" orders are correctly applied.
- Quotes
Sam Singleton: I like your kicks, man. Those are nice.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Private Romeo: Deleted Scenes (2011)
- SoundtracksGlow
Performed by Screaming Lights
Courtesy of Epitaph
By Arrangement with Sugaroo
Featured review
Private Romeo Deals with Love at a Military Academy
Updated Shakespeare is all the rage since the days of doing Hamlet in modern dress, or the nude version. We have seen and enjoyed everything from Richard III to Coriolanus in updated fashion.
A few years back we offered a course in Updated Shakespeare to English majors, and we found a growing army of updated tales on film, whether it was Much Ado about Nothing or A Midsummer Night's Dream.
We even loved Leonardo DiCaprio's Romeo and Juliet, and we came with some trepidation to something called Private Romeo.
The premise seemed a mite strained. A few cadets at a military academy are left alone at the campus, fending for themselves while the officers and other cadets are off on maneuvers. In one class the stranded and bereft young cadets are studying Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, and they seem to begin to live it.
The idea is not so far-fetched, as the original play deals with young hothead teenage gang members in rival factions. There is a secret love story interwoven among the hostilities and budding male adolescent angst.
So it is in Private Romeo. The shock of the rival gangs over Romeo's love may be more palatable because the forbidden affair is with another cadet. We found the Shakespearean dialog most apt to cover the situation.
The idea of first-love being misguided and overly passionate may befit a gay tale of coming out among cadets.
We can forgive a small budget movie stretching its wings, and we can even forgive a half dozen cadets looking like the Glee Club, not future ROTC members. Apart from that, the story picks up steam under director Alan Brown.
Scenes from R&J are cleverly woven into conversations about Romeo's unorthodox military affair. Action plays out on basketball court and chemistry lab. Like Elizabethan times, male actors play female roles like Nurse and Juliet's mother, this time in the guise of young cadets. The actors handle multiple roles and dialog is lifted from Shakespeare to meet the situation.
This brave effort features Matt Doyle as Cadet Mangan and his alter ego Juliet. Doyle is soft and vulnerable, but hardly feminine or in drag. Seth Numrich plays Cadet Singleton and Romeo. They are commendable.
If all male casts disturb you, you would not have been able to appreciate Shakespeare's work played by all male casts in the writer's lifetime.
A few years back we offered a course in Updated Shakespeare to English majors, and we found a growing army of updated tales on film, whether it was Much Ado about Nothing or A Midsummer Night's Dream.
We even loved Leonardo DiCaprio's Romeo and Juliet, and we came with some trepidation to something called Private Romeo.
The premise seemed a mite strained. A few cadets at a military academy are left alone at the campus, fending for themselves while the officers and other cadets are off on maneuvers. In one class the stranded and bereft young cadets are studying Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, and they seem to begin to live it.
The idea is not so far-fetched, as the original play deals with young hothead teenage gang members in rival factions. There is a secret love story interwoven among the hostilities and budding male adolescent angst.
So it is in Private Romeo. The shock of the rival gangs over Romeo's love may be more palatable because the forbidden affair is with another cadet. We found the Shakespearean dialog most apt to cover the situation.
The idea of first-love being misguided and overly passionate may befit a gay tale of coming out among cadets.
We can forgive a small budget movie stretching its wings, and we can even forgive a half dozen cadets looking like the Glee Club, not future ROTC members. Apart from that, the story picks up steam under director Alan Brown.
Scenes from R&J are cleverly woven into conversations about Romeo's unorthodox military affair. Action plays out on basketball court and chemistry lab. Like Elizabethan times, male actors play female roles like Nurse and Juliet's mother, this time in the guise of young cadets. The actors handle multiple roles and dialog is lifted from Shakespeare to meet the situation.
This brave effort features Matt Doyle as Cadet Mangan and his alter ego Juliet. Doyle is soft and vulnerable, but hardly feminine or in drag. Seth Numrich plays Cadet Singleton and Romeo. They are commendable.
If all male casts disturb you, you would not have been able to appreciate Shakespeare's work played by all male casts in the writer's lifetime.
helpful•113
- ossurworld
- Aug 23, 2012
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- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- The Shakespeare Project
- Filming locations
- Chaminade High School, Mineola, Long Island, New York, USA(Gymnasium and Weight Room)
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Color
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