IR Film Review: THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH [A24/Apple TV+]

The essence of Shakespeare reflects in seeing an essence of truth beneath the structure but also finding something in brevity. With "The Tragedy Of Macbeth", the players are fantastic, the production stylized but the approach is finite simply because of its essence. Shot in a specific box format like Stanley Kubrick did for "The Shining", the structure makes sense. Denzel Washington is now the exact right age to play Macbeth and there is a world weariness in the way he plays this defeated man. It is far cry from the character he played in "Much Ado About Nothing" for Kenneth Branagh back in 1993. That adaptation had a little more verve but more melodrama and the two cannot be compared. That film comparatively though is much more enjoyable.

However, because of the structure of Macbeth as well as his wife, Lady Macbeth (as with much of Shakespeare), most of the rumblings are spoken to oneself. And in this way, the person that comes out more dynamic in her performance is Frances McDormand. This is interestingly enough more against type for her after her Oscar winning turns for "Nomadland" and "Three Billboards" but between her keen eye both in fury, ambition and then breakdown, she really anchors the film, actually more than Denzel. The only brevity in essence since many of the other characters push for their own agenda is Stephen Root as The Porter but his appearance is brief. While Corey Hawkins as MacDuff is a major part of the plot machinations, it doesn't create a sense of emotion tug or dread in what befalls him.

The actors that fare better, one in a grounded way and the other in an ethereal way is Alex Hassell as Ross and Kathryn Hunter as The Witches. Ross is the Othello of this piece and Hassell plays him with a Snape-like essence but without the empathy. That said, it reads quite well especially with his heavily black draped countenance against a white background. Hunter has the more otherworldly approach of the bunch and that is what gives the film its dread. This is director Joel Coen's first film alone without his longtime collaborator and brother Ethan. There is lack of whimsy in the direction here but still a preciseness.

It is fine for him to head out on his own but there is a collaborative ying and yang between such pairings and it is felt when it finds its way separated. It was true of Jeunet & Caro in the difference between "City Of Lost Children" and "Amelie" and more recently Lana Wachowksi without her sister Lily for "The Matrix: Resurrections". Even in a darker dramas the Coens did like "Millers Crossing" or "No Country For Old Men", there was more of a balance. "The Tragedy Of Macbeth" is a great exercise done by people with a masters touch at the top of their game and yet it feels distant and cold. While that might be the story, there is something missing. B-

By Tim Wassberg