In fair Verona where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Doth, with their death, bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love And the continuance of their parents' rage — Which, but their children's end, nought could remove — Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which, if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend."
It goes without saying how beautiful the cinematography is in this film. As always any and every Baz Luhrmann production has so much beauty and power behind the imaginary and cinematographer Donald McAlpine brings it to life. The genius idea of mixing modern day and Shakespearean English, romanticizes the world even more. Picking a heart throb like Leonardo DiCaprio and sweet and innocent Claire Danes for the roles of Romeo and Juliet... once again pure brilliance. Maybe I am praising the film and film makers with corny words but they are well deserved.
May I present... The boys, the boys
It feels like Jamie Kennedy is in every core 2000's movie. So of course he is also in this one rocking the most beautiful pink hair (it's making me wanna dye mine). Harold Perrineau as Mercutio, chefs kiss. Couldn't be more perfect performance. The drag. The sass. The brotherhood. The deep emotion. Love him. John Leguizamo as Tybalt. Of course he's Tybalt. No one else could be. Even Paul Rudd as the spaceboy is such an obvious 2000's choice.
The fashion, especially all the shirts the boys and our Romeo wear, every lesbian in the city wants these shirts. Give me the one with the heart that Leo wears NOW.
The details in set design with all the catholic crosses, flowers, candles and religious imaginary are absolutely divine. Every colour choice, every little piece of changing the coke advert to Lamour? Divine.
Or the little angel pictures we used to collect as 90's kids, pasted all over Juliet's door. This is all the brilliant work of Catherine Martin who was the Production Designer, Doug Hardwick who did Art Direction and Brigitte Broch by whom the Set decoration was by. Of course there are many others to thank for the beautiful visual choices but these are at least to name a few.
Who can forget the perfection that is Leo with his swoopy hair, in that suit, smoking a cigarette, sitting at the beach at sunrise, writing poems down and Radiohead's Talk Show Host playing (which is also on the album at the bottom of this post). I CAN'T BREATHE, the teenage me is dying! The moment when he turns to look past the camera???? ICONIC.
"You want me? Well, come on and break the door down You want me? Fucking come on and break the door down
I'm ready"
Go girl, seek happy nights to happy days
Ah Claire Danes, the sweet innocent girl from My So Called Life. She doesn't get to show her brilliance enough, and I wish there was more to the character than just doe eyed longing for Romeo. She is so powerful towards the end of the film pleading the priest for help and I wish we could see more of that.
Mercutio
"You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings,
And soar with them above a common bound.
---
If love be rough with you, be rough with love;
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down."
Casting a black man playing drag as a Mercutio who eventually dies (sorry it's not a spoiler cause it's Shakespeare, you should know by now), is such a choice. Commenting on the way it is more likely for black men to die of gun violence and drag queens to be killed and forgotten about. Can't find how intentional this choice has been but I'm sure it's been somewhat in the consciousness of the people making this film. Harold Perrineau portrays a showman, but with deep emotion. His is one of my favourite characters.
If they do see thee, they will murder thee.
Another oh so iconic scene is the one where Romeo and Juliet meet. The mirroring of Romeo dunking his head in water just how Juliet was introduced, the fish tank, the incredible song Kissing you performed by Des'ree. The innocent looks... laughter, the passion, the intensity of unknown and meeting a stranger... it all sweeps you away and makes you long for meetings like this. As you get older you become a little bit more reserved and aren't as free to follow your wants and emotions. I was reminded of it this year and I've been reminiscing how the best things in life have come from me following what made me feel alive. The realisation of the this can't be, the forbidden love, the distance, the puzzle of this will never work, making it all oh so much more exciting and exhilarating. Leaves you gasping for air and romanticises the world, you see everything through a blur of pink tinted glasses and enter conversations through a fog covering your ears so everything is muffled. You are in your own world that only you know.
The way water connects Romeo and Juliet together, from the introductions of dunking their heads in water (first Juliet in her entrance and now with Romeo trying to clear his head) to the fish tank to being in the pool. I love how water connects everything. Water is in everything and I love how it is represented in showing the relationship between these two. Water is so sensual and brings and wraps the two together.
A plague o' both your houses
I can't even talk about the death of Mercutio. This hits me in the heart too hard. I wish I could just share the bleeding bruised heart as I have no words for how hard it is to watch this fight go down and to fall into the same blind rage Romeo does as he starts to hunt Tybalt. This is so unjust and pivotal for the plot but I wish we could of just skipped this. But feelings are there to be felt. Good and bad. We learn from each. We can't be blind to the injustices of the world. It's sometimes hard to handle the magnitude of it all, but without feeling the hurt we can't heal it.
When your heart hurts to only thing easing the pain is love. The softness of someone wrapping you in warmth. Again water is brought to the scene of Romeo and Juliet when Romeo has been in the rain and enters Juliet's room that envelopes him in love. In the morning the sheet creates the same effect of enveloping them like the pool did in the beginning. Two lovers wrapped up in each other in their own world.
Benotsolongtospeak;Ilongtodie
"And all this day an unaccustomed spirit
Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.
I dreamt my lady came and found me dead
And breathed such life with kisses in my lips
That I revived and was an emperor.
Ah me, how sweet is love itself possessed
When but love's shadows are so rich in joy."
We all know how the story ends, in teenagers taking their own lives over the cruelty of the world and the love that they have for each other. We get to see flashbacks of their happiest moments, maybe this is how they reunite in after life, once again in their own world, wrapped up in each other under water.
I love this film, I love love. The visuals of this movie are incredible, the soundtrack is incredible, the actors... everything. It's a world that sucks you in and sweeps you off your feet. Reminds you of the naivety of being young and in love, but also how in the end of they day what really matters in life. I'd rather be dumb and in love and do crazy things in life, than not live at all.
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