Director Joel Coen has created his first film without his brother and he called upon his wife Frances McDormand to star along Denzel Washington. Coen shot the film in black and white in an almost square ratio, harkening back to classic versions of Shakespeare films. Instead of broad theatrics, this version goes for a more naturalistic delivery, while still allowing for Coen’s vision. This includes grand stylized sets framed with dramatic lighting, rich costumes and flights of symbolic fancy with the witches. Washington and McDormand play it low-key, forsaking much of the histrionic style often associated with The Bard. Even so, the consistently underplayed delivery and slow, static tone make this a beautiful, but often tiresome production focused more on style than performance. To Coen’s credit, he did manage to trim the script down to 1:45. For a recent version that took matters in a totally different and fascinating direction, check out Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth (my review). 
(2.5 / 5)
On AppleTV+ Jan 14