"I think they should have changed the vernacular to modern-day parlance," said my "date" as we exited a Saturday showing of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (henceforth Romeo + Juliet) back in 1996. I should have terminated our "relationship" then and there as, a) she used two big words in normal speech, and b) her assessment of the picture was dead wrong. Strip this surreal retelling of its Elizabethan dialect and it becomes pointless--the original text contributes to the vitality of the emotions on display in ironic, if ironically obvious, ways.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO + JULIET SPECIAL EDITION DVD Image B- Sound A+ Extras A-

March 2, 2002|Well, I got my wish: William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet is now available on a DVD with commentary from Luhrmann (and others). That's the first of many differences between the previous movie-only disc and the Special Edition of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. It is my displeasure to report that the one area in which the SE falls short is its new anamorphic transfer (THX-approved, by the by, indications or lack thereof on the packaging to the contrary). As you can see from the above comparison, the 16x9 image is woefully oversaturated at times--everybody walks around looking as though they're coated in Cheetos gunk, and primary colours frequently smear. Neither has the print been scrubbed clean: you'll notice flecking in wide and processed shots that age the 1997 film a little beyond its years. On the plus side, there is a fractional increase in picture info on the latest release, and edge-enhancement is less intrusive than it was with the non-anamorphic version. The sound, too--still in Dolby Digital 5.1--is louder and more dynamic than it was before, with those gunshots carrying increased heft. Originally planned as the second disc in a box set of Luhrmann's "Red Curtain Trilogy" that keeps getting postponed--this in spite of the fact that you'll be able to purchase all of its contents individually by March 19th--the Romeo + Juliet SE has case art and menus very much in the vein of Luhrmann's self-produced Moulin Rouge! DVD, which owes as much to marketing savvy as it does artistic unity. The supplemental section is made up of numerous "galleries," starting with the "Director's Gallery." It kicks off with a clip from Melvin Bragg's documentary William Shakespeare: Man of the Millennium to introduce a quick reflection on the Luhrmann film's Impact. Both this and the second featurette, Club Shakespeare, somewhat overstate Romeo + Juliet's box office success, though to be fair, Luhrmann did make such modernized takes on Shakespeare as Michael Almereyda's Hamlet viable. Why Shakespeare? offers a segment from a lecture that Luhrmann delivered to an intimate audience in 1999 wherein he discusses how Romeo + Juliet is steeped firmly in the bawdy, savage Elizabethan tradition. Luhrmann's monologue continues in the longer Pitching Shakespeare, his funny account of nervously proposing the project to Fox execs. They gave him a few thousand dollars to workshop said pitch and the video that resulted (starring DiCaprio and filmed in an urban locale) is shown here in extracts. Rounding out the "Director's Gallery": alternating behind-the-scenes footage of the rehearsal, staging, and shooting of "The Gas Station," "[Swimming] Pool," and "Tybalt's Execution" sequences. Cinematographer's Gallery Director of Photography Donald A. McAlpine narrates six short segments regarding technique. In "One Light," we are reminded of Conrad Hall's famous set-up from In Cold Blood, where raindrops become surrogate tears for a speechifying killer. How the 360-degree swirl around Romeo and Juliet in a cramped elevator was achieved must be seen to be believed; it reveals DiCaprio and Danes' make-out session as a marvel of concentration. Design Gallery "Production Design"s are filed geographically: click on a map to tour the various parts of Verona Beach. Production designer Catherine Martin (Luhrmann's missus) lends voice-over to these animated overviews as well as those of the "Fashion of Verona Beach." Montages, for want of a better description, of "The Books" (storyboards), the "Guns of Verona Beach," "Branding Verona Beach" (billboards for such faux products as "Out Damn'd Spot" detergent), and the "Cars of Verona Beach" cap this gallery off. A song selection from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack underscores each bit. Interview Gallery All-too-brief talking heads with "The Co-Writer" (Craig Pearce), "The Editor" (Jill Bilcock), "The Choreographer" (John "Cha Cha" O'Connell, who doesn't talk about Mercutio's dance number but rather the opening standoff), "The Costume Designer" (Kym Barrett), and finally, Leo, Claire, and John Leguizamo. Danes' interview feels recent, but her co-stars' soundbites were unmistakably captured in 1997. Two music videos (or "clips" as they're called outside North America) for Des'ree's "Kissing You" and "Young Hearts [Run Free]" by Kym Mazelle, a block of TV spots, the trailer, and an international poster gallery close out the special features, not counting the terrific DVD-ROM platform that lets you page back and forth from the Shakespeare play to the Luhrmann/Pearce adaptation of it. As for the aforementioned yak-track, Luhrmann, Martin, Pearce, and McAlpine dissect their interpretation of "Romeo & Juliet" as a group and leave few stones unturned; their session amounts to the most pleasant, unthreatening Cliff's Notes you'll ever encounter. Don't let my quibbles with the transfer (or, for that matter, with the brevity of some of the extras) stop you from enjoying this very cool DVD for yourself. Aspect Ratio(s) 2.35:1 ONLY, 16x9-enhanced; Languages English DD 5.1, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround; CC Yes; Subtitles English, Spanish; DVD-9; Region One; Fox

Leo-mania began with this movie, though DiCaprio had already enjoyed good reviews and an Oscar nomination for What's Eating Gilbert Grape?. He makes a smashing Romeo, if you consider that Romeo is supposed to be beautiful enough to cast a spell on Juliet and cocksure enough to consider their union eternal mere hours after he first meets her.

DiCaprio delivers his soliloquies in California-speak and yet sells them more convincingly than his "Jack from Chippewa Falls" dialogue (and persona, for that matter) in Titanic. In Romeo + Juliet, however, he seems less in love with Claire Danes than with his own visage. (His chemsitry with Kate Winslet in Titanic, perhaps by virtue of that film being a full hour longer than Romeo + Juliet, is definitely more palpable.) As Owen Gleiberman asked in his "Entertainment Weekly" review, when DiCaprio and Danes initially spot each other on opposite sides of a fish tank, are they marvelling at the other's beauty or their own reflections in the glass?

Danes makes for a youthful Juliet. Early movie adaptations of the play always featured a woman of maturity in the role, which is contrary to Shakespeare's intentions. (Discounting, of course, that in Shakespeare's day, a man would've played Juliet.) Romeo and Juliet are as impetuous as only young lovers can be. The overblown family feud between the Capulets and Montagues would likely prevent anyone thinking rationally and not hormonally--i.e. older people in search of stability, security--from considering a "star cross'd" affair. Shakespeare's prose distances modern viewers, therefore it is much easier, in this version, to seize on Romeo and Juliet's body language: their relationship becomes the discovery of sex (and sexuality) between two attractive teenagers.

I applaud director Baz Luhrmann's approach. He had previously helmed the ultra-irritating Strictly Ballroom, but I can't complain, because its success gave him the clout to do Romeo + Juliet Burger King-style: his way. The film was shot in Mexico and San Francisco and takes place in "Verona Beach," a town we might mistake for Miami. The war between the Capulet (Paul Sorvino) and Montague (Brian Dennehy) fathers has triggered violence among offspring. Slick Tybalt Capulet (John Leguizamo), the "Prince of Cats," is always waving his gun at the beleaguered beach bums headed up by Romeo Montague and Romeo's friend, Mercutio, here reenvisioned as a black drag queen. (Harold Perrineau is spectacular in the part.) Then Romeo spots Juliet Capulet at a masquerade ball (one memorable costume: the partygoer decked out in a NASA spacesuit) and all hell breaks loose.

Luhrmann's cutting, for the first twenty minutes or so, is breakneck. The film begins with a trailer for itself, which is accompanied on the soundtrack by Wagner's "Liebestod" (which has become popular music in movie trailers since). From there, we are noisily introduced to the story's key players, in sequences unparalleled in their lunacy. The "gang members" behave as if regulars on a Saturday morning cartoon created by Sergio Leone.

The film settles down a bit after said fish tank encounter, but this is not to say that it becomes bland. Consider that a boy's choir performs Prince's "When Doves Cry" at Romeo and Juliet's wedding. Consider that Juliet's dad is a physically abusive drunk prone to shouting opera lyrics. I'd list lots of things worth considering, were I a spoiler fiend.

Suffice it to say, Luhrmann doesn't merely transplant "Romeo and Juliet" to present day: he pretends that cinematic forms and norms are Silly Putty, frequently stepping outside the realms of tradition and logic, sometimes to hammer a point home, at others to keep young audiences from tedium. (Does it even take place in present day?) Some have called it a "Rock and roll Romeo and Juliet," but I think that leads to unfair comparisons--even at its choppiest, Luhrmann's picture is far less superficial than the average MTV video.

Romeo + Juliet was a hit but not a blockbuster because it's finally just too nutty. When Titanic came around, admirers of Mr. DiCaprio at last had their Romeo and Juliet story served up in a straightforward manner. They could admire his physical presence in a vehicle with more clearly defined goals.

Romeo + Juliet looks and sounds excellent on DVD, but where are the extras that adorned the 1997 LaserDisc version? Bad memories of "Parlance Girl" discouraged me from buying it back then, despite my admiration for Luhrmann's interpretation. Now I regret that decision, because a commentary for this film would be very much appreciated. This DVD was apparently authored from the LD master, and I can only assume that Fox has something better in mind for the future, perhaps a special edition with a 16x9 transfer and a combination of the existing and new supplements, as they have just done for Alien. (Why let decent bonus material go to waste?)

The current transfer is hardly shabby. While not anamorphically enhanced, the 120-minute film has been spread over two layers, eliminating the need for high compression. (The layer switch, at 78:45, is terrible, I should add.) Letterboxed at 2.35:1, the disc accurately represents the best aspects of Donald McAlpine's Hawaiian-shirt coloured images. Many of the exteriors were shot during "magic hour," when the sunlight is particularly golden and intense, and this lends the beach scenes, for instance, an almost overexposed gloss that is gorgeous.

The light intensity might lead to some distinguishable haloing on big monitors, but on my 32" set, this is not a problem. Sometimes, Romeo + Juliet's outdoor scenes appear soft, but it's preferable to the jagged edges and grain that typically result from too much sharpness, as demonstrated by Die Hard with a Vengeance, also from Fox.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on Romeo + Juliet often shakes the room. I have the film's first soundtrack CD, whose songs are incomparable in terms of bass and separation to their DVD counterparts. (Curiously, the biggest hits off the soundtrack are not prominent on screen.) Mercutio's song and dance number, in particular, is so thundering I was immediately transported to an imaginary dance club. When, a few moments later, Romeo has a drug-induced psych-out, the white noise in his head does full pans around the room.

That's hardly the tip of the iceberg (no Titanic pun intended) for split-surround effects: most impressive is the car chase, which sucks us into the action with a combination of thunder, rain, and squealing tires emanating from all six speakers at various intervals. What most surprised me about the 5.1 track was how wimpy the pistols sounded when they were fired. If you can picture a Mini-Pops rendition of "When Doves Cry" hitting you in the gut more powerfully than an attention-getting blast from a 9mm, you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this DVD. The disc also includes a Dolby Surround 2.0 mix (the default audio) and a French Dolby Surround 2.0 mix.

The disc's menu is animated, and typically lovely--Fox hasn't been in the DVD game long, though their menus are always something to behold--but it provides access to only the movie, some language options, the chapter stops, and a trailer. The trailer is fun but presented in mono, which is upsetting. "They should have changed the monophic sound into modern-day discrete ambience," she might say.-Bill Chambers