In his first single-handed filmmaking venture, Joel Coen (best known as one half of the Coen Bros.) takes on Shakespeare in The Tragedy of Macbeth.
Shot entirely on set, with sharp, black-&-white cinematography courtesy of Bruce Delbonnel, the film’s striking, otherworldly visuals, inky shadows and slanting light, owe a debt to German Expressionism.
This is an Orson Welles production where the mist isn’t budgetary, with the stark, eclectic iconicity of Carl Dreyer, and a contortionist, three-in-one The Witches (Kathryn Hunter), who has the physicality of Gollum and the costume of Death from Bergman’s The Seventh Seal‘s.
There are some memorable touches of eccentricity – Bertie Carvel’s Banquo has wild eyebrows like out of Roald Dahl’s “The Twits” – but Coen’s Macbeth is a streamline retelling of the Scottish play, coming in at roughly an hour and forty-five minutes.
Washington charts Macbeth’s passage from wary soldier to extravagant tyrant, running through his dialogue to bloody business bound and a strict deadline to keep to. It’s testament to Frances McDormand, eyes shining, her French plait bringing to mind a less outré Bride of Frankenstein, that Lady Macbeth’s descent from connivance to madness just about works; even with the truncated runtime.
Brendan Gleeson, Harry Melling, and Corey Hawkins are all sturdy in supporting roles1, but strangely it’s Alex Hassell’s Ross who gets the most to do – his role in the plot expanded to include some scheming of his own.
Carter Burwell’s sparse score makes notable use of a pounding drum, driving us relentlessly forward, as crows sweep and blood drips like wax.
That indie darling A24 produced this Macbeth seems obvious in retrospect. That it’s bound for Apple TV feels less so. Then again, this is a polished, if slightly soulless piece of work, well-deserving of the sobriquet Mac-beth.2
The Tragedy of Macbeth will be available to stream on Apple TV from January 14th, 2022
