Date: Fri 08-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SUEZ

Illustration: C

Location: A10

Quick Words:

Playing-Dane-Romeo-DiCaprio

Full Text:

(rev "Romeo+Juliet" for Now Playing)

Now Playing-

Dane's Star Shines In Latest "Romeo & Juliet"

By Trey Paul Alexander III

The Number One movie in America last week was William Shakespeare's Romeo &

Juliet , which is playing at the Crown Cine theater in Danbury. If you

question why they bothered to put Shakespeare's name in the title, I suspect

it's because no one would otherwise recognize this as being an adaptation of

his play.

Actually, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Although Romeo & Juliet , as

directed by Australian Baz Luhrmann ( Strictly Ballroom ), is most definitely

a strange concoction of modern-day Tarantino chic and tongue-tripping, though

truncated, 16th Century speak, it doesn't stray so far from the Bard as to be

completely unidentifiable. It's just the movie becomes so enamored with its

stylish finish on this timeless tale of star-crossed lovers, one wonders if

Luhrmann's point is to prove how timeless the story is (by placing it in

contemporary context) or stretch the limits of the play's adaptability (how

far can you go before losing the essence of Shakespeare's tragedy?).

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Romeo by way of James Dean: a brooding soul who at

heart is a hopeless romantic. The object of his affections - his Natalie Wood?

- is Juliet (Claire Danes), daughter of the Capulet family, a corporate

dynasty that rivals Romeo's Montague clan for control of Verona Beach. Their

gazes first meet at an elaborately staged costume ball (or is it a Madonna

video?) hosted by the Capulets, and thus begins a love affair that defies the

warring traditions of their families.

Romeo & Juliet , without question, has flair to spare. The dueling blades of

Shakespeare's text have been replaced by gleaming handguns; fair Verona is

transformed into a sweltering, urban landscape called Verona Beach; numerous

sequences are edited together with the frenetic, jump-cut pacing of an

alternative-rock music video (or the opening to a '70s cop show); and the

film's soundtrack pulsates with selected cuts of everything from Mozart to

Radiohead to choir boys singing an intriguing version of "When Doves Cry."

The result of all this energy, however, saps the story of most of its

glorification of a young love and passionate devotion that knows no bounds.

Luhrmann's film is indeed brimming with raw emotion, but almost all of it

centers around the violent, brutal aspects of the play generated by the feud

between the Capulets and Montagues. Whenever the conflicting sides meet

(particularly in any scene involving a sneering John Leguizamo), the lines are

yelled at such high decibels and with such ferocity that all meaning is lost

except for the obvious "I hate you with a passion" connotation.

Most of the movie's performances get lost in this jumble of raging fury. Paul

Sorvino, so wonderfully restrained as Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone's Nixon

, is wildly over the top here as Juliet's father; Harold Perrineau, a subtle

surprise in Smoke , rants loudly in a curious characterization of Mercutio;

and even DiCaprio, who for the most part does his best James Dean (which is

pretty darn good), gets swallowed up occasionally by the Shakespearean lines.

A consistent bright spot however is Danes, who continues to marvel with her

thoughtful performances. She first gained attention as Angela Chase on ABC's

short-lived teen-angst drama, "My So-Called Life," which now runs periodically

on MTV. As Juliet, Danes gives the most natural readings of the Shakespearean

dialogue, helps bring the text alive and reminds viewers of the vitality of

the Bard's words and their meaning. When she is on screen, the missing element

of youthful romance returns to the play. Aside from Pete Postlethwaite (who

scores in his portrayal of Romeo's confidante, Father Laurence), Danes hits

the highest marks in this bizarre cinematic mixture.

William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet is rated PG-13 for violence and

suggestiveness.