I only saw the end of this (from the time Edgar finds his blinded father). Though I'll want to see the whole thing, what I saw was very well done.
In one of my grad school courses, we studied only King Lear for the whole semester--the course took a rhetorical, socio-linguist, philological approach and was fascinating. Another semester (with the same professor and theater directors, drama students, English majors, etc.) we read Lear closely and watched two different film versions as we went along--Olivier and a BBC version with Hordern--comparing and contrasting. King Lear doesn't grow old for me (though some productions might). I'm always gripped by its chaos/terror (surpassing No Exit and Waiting for Godot)and the moments of reconciliation.
From what I saw the other night, McKellen plays a better Lear than Olivier or Hordern. I haven't yet seen Ian Holm's version to say how it compares.
King Lear
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khl
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Re: King Lear
Keith
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Nanohedron
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Re: King Lear
Being woefully ill-experienced with theater, I'm gratified that my liking for this particular production may not be without merit.
There's a fellow I enjoy having good talks with at a local watering hole, an Irishman, worldly and up to his neck in theater (says he's partied with Eugene Levy and Kathryn Erbe back when, that sort of thing, and what would be the good in lying about that?
), and I was pleased to be able for once to actually get on the subject with him. He was pleasantly surprised at my enthusiasm, having assumed I had no interest whatsoever in theater. Not exactly true; I just don't have a lot of it. 
There's a fellow I enjoy having good talks with at a local watering hole, an Irishman, worldly and up to his neck in theater (says he's partied with Eugene Levy and Kathryn Erbe back when, that sort of thing, and what would be the good in lying about that?
), and I was pleased to be able for once to actually get on the subject with him. He was pleasantly surprised at my enthusiasm, having assumed I had no interest whatsoever in theater. Not exactly true; I just don't have a lot of it. "If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician
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I.D.10-t
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Re: King Lear
I might have to look into it, started watching the Laurence Olivier one a while back and couldn't get through it.khl wrote:From what I saw the other night, McKellen plays a better Lear than Olivier or Hordern. I haven't yet seen Ian Holm's version to say how it compares.
"Be not deceived by the sweet words of proverbial philosophy. Sugar of lead is a poison."
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s1m0n
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Re: King Lear
If you're comparing similar films, Richard Harris once spoke of his preformance in The Field as "My Lear", and he was right; it's a very similar role in a very different film, but worth seeing.I.D.10-t wrote:Cool, I have been looking for a decent adaptation after watching Ran.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
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Congratulations
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Re: King Lear
Well... I mean, yeah.Nanohedron wrote:I call it "gawking at a train wreck".Congratulations wrote:It's called a "tragic flaw," and that's kind of how it works.
The trick is (stay with me here), with Shakespeare, one realizes that one gawks at oneself.
Or something.
oh Lana Turner we love you get up
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Nanohedron
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Oh, yeah: also a mod here, not a spammer. A matter of opinion, perhaps. - Location: Lefse country
Re: King Lear
Yeah, I get that. I took classes and stuff.
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician