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Deliver Us from Eva (2003)
Just another rom-com or a clever Shakespearian adaptation?
The entertaining 'Deliver Us from Eva' released in 2003 is not your typical rom-com, it is also a loose adaption of William Shakespeare's famous 'Taming of the Shrew'. At first, this would most certainly come as a surprise to anyone who is familiar with Shakespeare's play but when you delve into the plot it becomes quite apparent that this is in fact based on the well-known Shakespearian drama. The clever writers James Iver Mattson, B.E Brauner and Gary Hardwick (who is also the director) took a very interesting approach to this quirky adaptation. 'Deliver Us from Eva' as your everyday predictable rom-com wouldn't necessarily be screaming ten out of ten, however, this rom-com in terms of an eccentric adaptation of the 'Taming of the Shrew' is undoubtedly calling for a gold star.
This film isn't promoted as a Shakespearian adaptation possibly because when people hear the word Shakespeare they immediately associate the word with the renaissance era. However, throughout the last two decades there have been numerous broad adaptions of Shakespeare whether it be Andy Fickman's 'She's the Man', Gil Junger's '10 Things I Hate About You' that is a broad adaptation of the 'Taming of the Shrew' also or 'Deliver Us From Eva'. Throughout the film there a subtle hints that this is a Shakespearian adaptation, which in my opinion add to the overall enjoyment of this film. When the two main characters Eva Dandrige (Gabriella Union) and Ray Adams (LL Cool J) go horse riding the horse is appropriately called Romeo, this brings to mind the famous Shakespearian character. The second subtle hint was one of Shakespeare's favorite plot devices, the fake death device; the fake death of Ray was certainly not just a coincidence. Although there were these subtle hints of Shakespeare, the plot was altered to an extent that if you didn't know this was a Shakespeare adaptation, you would be no the wiser after watching it.
Knowing that this is a loose adaptation, the characters are quite comparable to the 'Taming of the Shrew'. Eva is the equivalent to Katherine as she is headstrong, insulting and controlling. In the same way as the 'Taming of the Shrew', Eva tries to control her sisters and she insults nearly everyone she meets. But this slowly but surely changes when she meets Ray (who is similar to Petruchio). Ray has tamed her, she becomes nicer towards everyone and doesn't insult people anymore. This however, is not similar to the taming of Katherine who is starved and deprived of sleep until she becomes obedient. Gabriella Union gives a very convincing performance of the "shrew" with both her tone and facial expression really emphasising this. Ray isn't as similar to Petruchio as Eva is to Katherine but this is mostly down to the fact that it is in fact a rom-com and there is no room for starving the main character is a romantic drama. Ray is similar to Petruchio in the way he can take Eva's insults and doesn't get turned off by this but rather finds it somewhat charming. On the other hand, he isn't as eccentric or uncaring as Petruchio. LL Cool J gives a good performance of a typical man in a rom-com but doesn't preform as well as Union. This could be down to the fact that his performance isn't half as interesting or exciting as Petruchio plays in the 'Taming of the Shrew' because there is no twisted side to him. If watching this film without knowing it was an adaption, the only character that would stand out would be Eva and this is disappointing, as Petruchio should also stand out, as he is such a prominent character. The plot is mildly comparable to the 'Taming of the Shrew'. The most comparable part of the plot was when he Dandrige sisters' boyfriends/husbands pay Ray $5,000 to date Eva in order to be able to spend time with the Dandrige sisters which is similar to Petruchio only marrying Katherine for her money. Other than this plot similarity, it is easy to say that 'Deliver Us from Eva' is more so comparable to the 1999 '10 Things I Hate About You'. Again, if the viewer of this film didn't know it was an adaptation this could be seen as just a boring rom-com.
There are many people who would not be aware that this film has a Shakespearian background. Therefore, there are two ways to approach and rate this film: from the point of view of knowing it is an adaption and not knowing. Without knowing that this is an adaption I don't think the film would be near as intriguing or captivating; it may certainly come across as just another typical rom-com. For this reason it would be given a bad review, as it is a predictable film with a happily ever after ending. Then taking the case of knowing that this is an adaption certainly makes the film more interesting to watch and compare it with the 'Taming of the Shrew'. It cannot be denied that the writers and directors approach to this adaptation is very clever and quirky.
Romeo & Juliet (2013)
Romeo & Juliet Review
The most recent 'Romeo and Juliet' (2013) adaption directed by Carlo Carlei is certainly a film worth talking about but not necessarily for all of the right reasons. There are aspects to this film that were exciting, quirky and enjoyable but unfortunately these did not outweigh the rather unsuccessful aspects of the play. This bland adaptation is aimed at a younger audience and as a teenager myself I wasn't too impressed for many reasons that I will discuss. Unfortunately for Carlei, Baz Luhrmann's adaption was more relatable for a young audience due to the successful modern take on the play and also due to the casting.
The naturally beautiful Hailee Steinfeld took on the challenging role of the young Juliet Capulet and perhaps Hailee herself was too young to fulfill this role to its full potential. The character of Juliet Capulet is a hell of a role to take on; not only has the actor to appear as a young, vulnerable, innocent and sweet girl but the actor must magically transform into this strong, confident, capable and heroic women. This task certainly would not be easy and could possibly need an experienced actor like Luhrmann's casting of Claire Danes. Steinfeld was flawless in the first half of the film where Juliet is the naive little girl who has no worries in life. She gave a strong performance in showing the viewers that Juliet is very childlike and will obey her mother, Lady Capulet (Natascha McElhone) when informed she will be marrying Count Paris (Tom Wisdom). However, Steinfeld was unable to deliver the detrimental transformation of her character into the brave women who knows no bounds for true love. Many of Shakespeare's plays contain a heroine: Lady Macbeth, Katharina and Beatrice etc. and to me these are essential to these plays as it gives an edge which is so likable as a young women and is something which I myself and other teenage women can somewhat relate to. Therefore, I feel this took away from the overall success of the film.
Perhaps this transformation of Juliet was not meant to be so prominent or not a factor at all in this play. Julian Fellowes (writer) took an interesting approach to the play by focusing it solely around the consuming and unbreakable love between Romeo and Juliet. I believe this approach meant that the characters had to act in a certain way to fulfill the altered script for this romance focused version and this perhaps took away from their acting abilities. The original text of Shakespeare's was chopped and changed to fit this interesting adaption; there were scenes cut and added in order to get across this love filled film. There are three scenes added to this version of the play in order to display this: the marriage scene, the horse riding scene after the marriage and also the scene where Friar Laurence is describing their plan for the future after taking the potion. The film takes out scene where Juliet and Paris meet at Friar Laurence's cell and this is perhaps because this film is solely based on the love between Romeo and Juliet and to add Paris would just takes away from that. Fellowes cleverly uses this scene to depict the future that Romeo and Juliet could have had together if everything had gone to plan. In my opinion, this was an excellent alteration of script on the writer's behalf, as for a moment we see the ending that everybody wanted for Romeo and Juliet.
Thankfully, there is one element of this film that is brilliant and that is the casting of Paul Giamatti portraying Friar Laurence. He has an extensive part to play in this film and seems to be made more dominant in comparison to previous adaptations of this film. He gives a strong and balanced performance as a spiritual adviser for both Romeo and Juliet. Friar Laurence gives the most intense emotional delivery in this play and certainly evokes reaction from the audience. In a way, this reflects badly on the other more prominent characters such as Romeo Montague (Douglas Booth) who is a character that should be stealing the spotlight along with Juliet. I was disappointed with Booth's performance in comparison to the outstanding performance that Leonardo DiCaprio. Unfortunately, I felt he didn't deliver the brave and hopelessly romantic characteristic of Romeo's personality. His acting is certainly not coming across as natural, it almost appears as if it is over rehearsed.
Overall, there are many aspects of this film that just didn't win my approval. Shakespeare is a world-renowned writer and his plays are timeless and flawless. For this reason I believe that his script should be adhered to as much as possible; Fellowes regrettably altered the language by sticking in modern day dialogue here and there but thankfully his setting in the Renaissance Verona worked well. For all of these reasons I have mentioned I believe, that Carlei's and Fellowe's adaptation will not be rated at the same level as the outstanding versions of Romeo and Juliet by Zeffirelli and Luhrmann.