Looking For Richard review

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Now is the winter of our big-screen Bard adaptations. Epic productions of Hamlet and Romeo And Juliet are around the corner, but Pacino has opted for a semi-documentary approach to literature's nasty hunchback.

Purists will sneer at his brash populism, which cross-cuts between scholars and street people like an MTV informercial. Happily, though, the middle bit is a neatly condensed version of the play's central action, and the final showdown even gets quite exciting.

Pacino's self-conscious behind-the-scenes footage has unpleasant echoes of In Bed With Madonna, but there's no doubting his passion for the subject, or his desire to communicate its 400-year-old greatness to a Pepsi-chugging audience. Impressively, the viewer is left with a solid understanding of one of Shakespeare's most complex plays - - without having to sit through a tedious, bum-numbingly straight performance.

Pacino should be applauded. Not quite a triumph, my liege, but a qualified success.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

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