Shakespeare on speed

In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet the Australian director Baz Luhrmann tells the most famous love story for the MTV- generation

Love at first sight: the angel (Claire Danes) and the knight (L. DiCaprio)

CLASSIC -RENOVATION   Place of the plot is not 16th century's Verona but a fictitious Scene is not 16th century Verona but the American Verona Beach of the present. The characters don't wear beret and doublet but Hawaiian shirts and designer dresses. And instead of foils the guys wage their conflicts with guns.
William Shakespeare would be quite pleased if he knew that Australian director Baz Luhrmann ("Strictly Ballroom") of course stylized his teenager-tragedy a lot but in return made it consumable for the MTV-generation. Motto: Classic meets pop.
Luhrmann has kept the original dialogues and the tragical love story of two youths whose families, the Capulets and the Montagues, fight against each other in fatal hatred. The rest was subjected to drastic measures: the coastal city is metropolis of violence, Leonardo DiCaprio's Romeo - a mixture of Dandy and James Dean - is head of the Montague-gang that duels regularly with the Capulets. Claire Danes' Juliet is a symbol for extra-terrestrial innocence. Alienation, Hard-Rock, quick cuts and an often nervous camera make the stage classic a pop-opera worth seeing for teens and trend-followers.
                                                                                                        Leonardo DiCaprio plays the
                                                                                                         high-speed-Romeo: in love and
                                                                                                         furious as well
 

©TV Movie
   Angelika Buscha

Summary:
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, USA 1996 D:Baz Luhrmann A: L.DiCaprio, C.Danes, J.Leguizamo

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