Private Romeo

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Daniel O different take to romeo and juliet Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/22/23 Full Review Audience Member "Private Romeo" is simultaneously more faithful AND more radical than one might think. By setting the action in a boy's military academy, the presentation is actually close to Shakespeare's day when men and boys performed all the roles; this also liberates the queer themes, and thus makes the story have a new frisson of danger and sexiness some other contemporary productions may lack. The snippets trying to integrate a modern subplot involving hazing don't quite pay off, and a couple music performances come across as odd and shoehorned in, though Matt Doyle doing a gloriously ardent finale of "You Made Me Love You" is a notable exception. Most of the actors acquit themselves nicely, with special props to the leads for conveying all the sighing, tender passion one requires in a timeless tale of young love. Definitely a keeper for Shakespeare lovers, and though it can't hold a candle to Baz Luhrmann's visual pizazz, it's still light years more affecting than his train wreck from the 90's. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member You have to like Shakespeare, or at least his most well known work, Romeo & Juliet, to enjoy this movie. This is one of those rare films that adapts a period piece to a modern setting, but it goes one better, adapting it to a different social setting. And, yet very little of the dialogue has been altered in the process. The acting is excellent, and it becomes gripping to watch these cadet characters utter the lines with such genuine feeling, there are times when you forget about the 'art' house style and become engrossed in the moment. It reminded me of Derek Jarman's 1991 film Edward II, a similar time warp adaptation, that was refreshing. Definite thumbs up. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member I was hesitant to view (yet ANOTHER) adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, but this movie delivered remarkably. The use of the original Shakespeare dialogue was believably spoken. The actors (for the most part) played the language with understandable realism. The deviation from the original work (SPOILER) removed the tragic end, which was both disappointing but sweetly romantic. Lastly, for all the negative reviews criticizing the use of Juliet in reference to a man rather than gender-sliding it to something similar yet masculine: 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.' Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Lame movie but seeing Matt Doyle sing “You Made Me Love You” at the end of the movie was the only highlight! Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 08/22/18 Full Review Audience Member The beginning of the movie confused me a little, but then I caught onto the rhythm of the classroom/military school to Shakespeare/young love shifts and found it enchanting. I've attended professional performances on stage in which the meaning of the lines in the play were butchered, along with the scan of the phrasing. This move certainly didn't suffer from THAT problem! The heck with the critics who can't appreciate pure entertainment. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Private Romeo

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