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May 17, 2005
The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino
I got from Netflix last night this recent film adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, which features an astoundingly amazing performance by Al Pacino as Shylock, who I found myself deeply caring about and rooting for in a a play steeped in anti-semitism, and this despite his wish for the death of a basically good (but anti-semitic as are all the Christians in the play) man. Pacino's amazing performance almost makes the rest of the play seem drab and trite in comparison, as we so know (even if not knowing the play in advance) the obvious result of the Portia-Bassanio love story. Jeremy Irons as Antonio and Lynn Collins as Portia playing Balthazar are also quite good. Pacino's ***** performance raises my overall rating to ****.
Rober Ebert's review is also excellent and well worth reading. Seeing this reviewed on Ebert & Roeper is what made me sure to add it to my Netflix queue, and almost to go earlier to see it in the theatre.
It is as always so interesting to see a play with different casts. I remember seeing an excellent production of this play many years ago off-off-Broadway in a performance starring Sigourney Weaver as Portia where she, with her powerful presence, absolutely stole the show. In this film performance, no other character can compare to Pacino's incandescence.
Posted by aarondf at May 17, 2005 10:58 AM
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