Lawrence Olivier is totally deserving of his Shakespearean reputation. Not only is his performance spectacular but his choices as a director are quite avant garde, especially for the 40s. His sets are barren and angular, reminding me at times of German Expressionism.

If you are not familiar with Shakespeare, I highly recommend reading the story before watching, or at least reading a summary before watching. As it has been awhile since I studied Shakespeare and the language is quite dense, I don’t think I got as much from this watch as I could have.

I look forward to more of his adaptations!

Lawrence Olivier is totally deserving of his Shakespearean reputation. Not only is his performance spectacular but his choices as a director are quite avant garde, especially for the 40s. His sets are barren and angular, reminding me at times of German Expressionism.

If you are not familiar with Shakespeare, I highly recommend reading the story before watching, or at least reading a summary before watching. As it has been awhile since I studied Shakespeare and the language is quite dense, I don’t think I got as much from this watch as I could have.

I look forward to more of his adaptations!

por siempre y para siempre un placer de ver, hoy lo entendí un poco mejor y aunque yo también desearía no ser y solo dormir no pude evitar detestar un poquito a hamlet por ser tan misógeno y aweonao

pobre ophelia, solo había entregado su corazón
quizás hamlet habrá sido un aweonao pero gracias laurence por darnos esta. esta película nunca dejará de parecerme la prueba de que el teatro tenía limitaciones y olivier, sabiendolo, simplemente lo llevó donde podía llegar con el cine. uno lo siente en todos los planos y los movimientos de cámara 💚

por siempre y para siempre un placer de ver, hoy lo entendí un poco mejor y aunque yo también desearía no ser y solo dormir no pude evitar detestar un poquito a hamlet por ser tan misógeno y aweonao

pobre ophelia, solo había entregado su corazón
quizás hamlet habrá sido un aweonao pero gracias laurence por darnos esta. esta película nunca dejará de parecerme la prueba de que el teatro tenía limitaciones y olivier, sabiendolo, simplemente lo llevó donde podía llegar con el cine. uno lo siente en todos los planos y los movimientos de cámara 💚

This is some good Shakespeare shit right here

This is some good Shakespeare shit right here

Hot take, this Shakespeare guy is going somewhere. Constant misery and suffering, a neverending horror from which no one can ever escape... and thats just sitting through Laurence Olivier's performance!

Jokes aside, while he seriously directs the hell out of this spidery gothic world and its web of pain, the entire cast acts circles around him in every scene. Just bland and faggy with fuckass micro bangs! I don't like him!

Hot take, this Shakespeare guy is going somewhere. Constant misery and suffering, a neverending horror from which no one can ever escape... and thats just sitting through Laurence Olivier's performance!

Jokes aside, while he seriously directs the hell out of this spidery gothic world and its web of pain, the entire cast acts circles around him in every scene. Just bland and faggy with fuckass micro bangs! I don't like him!

Watching Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet last night gave me an itch for a Shakespeare adaptation that I decided to spend on Laurence Olivier’s best picture-winning Hamlet, I’ve been meaning to get to it for a while as I’ve loved this play and Branagh’s adaptation for a long time and to my delight and shock this captured the feeling of the play better than Branagh’s. I still need to rewatch his version as its been far too long since I’ve seen it to pass fair judgement but from my memory I can say I love the visual design of this one much more(i just think Shakespeare adaptations belong in black and white, joel coen understands), the lighting is tremendous and the overall set design and directorial vision of Laurence Olivier reminds me a lot of what I got in Carl Theodore Dreyer’s Vampyr, the inventive camera work, editing techniques, and aforementioned brilliant lighting create a final product that I’ve seen nothing else like from this era of Hollywood, it paints a pretty clear picture to me for how and why this received the raving critical praise it did. Even with his riveting lead performance and amazing work behind the camera I felt Laurence Olivier’s love for Shakespeare most potently through this screenplay adaptation, I’m really not sure why Branagh decided to make his four hours long because Olivier showed how amazingly this story could be told in a mere 150 minutes(not exactly a mere runtime but in comparison to Branagh’s, yes), and even though there were a few small stretches here where I thought it lost itself a bit in prolonging some scenes I was very impressed by how this was paced and how this 1948 adaptation kept me completely entranced in a story I’ve already taken in plenty of times before. I initially put this on to scratch that itch I mentioned but also because I wanted to rewatch Hamnet tonight, I’ve thought better of it and decided to let that one simmer for a while but I’m still very happy I pulled the trigger on this because it did scratch that itch just like I wanted to and I now have a much greater appreciation for Laurence Olivier than I ever imagined I would.

Watching Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet last night gave me an itch for a Shakespeare adaptation that I decided to spend on Laurence Olivier’s best picture-winning Hamlet, I’ve been meaning to get to it for a while as I’ve loved this play and Branagh’s adaptation for a long time and to my delight and shock this captured the feeling of the play better than Branagh’s. I still need to rewatch his version as its been far too long since I’ve seen it to pass fair judgement but from my memory I can say I love the visual design of this one much more(i just think Shakespeare adaptations belong in black and white, joel coen understands), the lighting is tremendous and the overall set design and directorial vision of Laurence Olivier reminds me a lot of what I got in Carl Theodore Dreyer’s Vampyr, the inventive camera work, editing techniques, and aforementioned brilliant lighting create a final product that I’ve seen nothing else like from this era of Hollywood, it paints a pretty clear picture to me for how and why this received the raving critical praise it did. Even with his riveting lead performance and amazing work behind the camera I felt Laurence Olivier’s love for Shakespeare most potently through this screenplay adaptation, I’m really not sure why Branagh decided to make his four hours long because Olivier showed how amazingly this story could be told in a mere 150 minutes(not exactly a mere runtime but in comparison to Branagh’s, yes), and even though there were a few small stretches here where I thought it lost itself a bit in prolonging some scenes I was very impressed by how this was paced and how this 1948 adaptation kept me completely entranced in a story I’ve already taken in plenty of times before. I initially put this on to scratch that itch I mentioned but also because I wanted to rewatch Hamnet tonight, I’ve thought better of it and decided to let that one simmer for a while but I’m still very happy I pulled the trigger on this because it did scratch that itch just like I wanted to and I now have a much greater appreciation for Laurence Olivier than I ever imagined I would.