As You Like It (2006)

By any standard, Kenneth Branagh’s 2006 production of As You Like It is exceptional.  It is both an incredibly entertaining film and – in my mind - a terrifically faithful adaptation of Shakespeare’s original play.  In the DVD extra “From Page to Screen With Kenneth Branagh,” the director explains that, as a filmmaker adapting Shakespeare, “you’re trying to serve the story in the medium you’re working in” (emphasis added).  The point being that if you just stick to the text, then you don’t have a visually stunning movie; but throw the text out the window in order to make a Star Wars prequel-esque, special effects-heavy, cinematic explosion, then you’ve lost Shakespeare’s genius in the translation.   Brannagh makes neither mistake here.

In As You Like It, Branagh makes the bold decision to change the play’s setting from a French dukedom (of an uncertain time period) to the feudal Japan of the 19^th century.  In fact, as the film opened, I felt like the play was happening in the cover art of Weezer’s classic 1996 album Pinkerton.  

You should own this album.

As a huge fan, I was that much more excited about the movie.  The setting change was a make it or break it move for Branagh’s production, one which proves itself over the course of the film to be a brilliant decision. Shakespeare’s play begins with the hostile takeover by Duke Frederick already completed, but the cool new setting allows Brangh to stage it at the film’s outset as a ferocious samurai invasion.  Pairing that awesome open with seamless translation of Shakespeare’s “wrestling” in Act One to the sumo wrestling in the film, and you not only have a dynamite new setting, but also the brilliant juxtaposition of the dukedom’s violence and the peace we find in the Forest of Arden.

In this, and in virtually every detail of As You Like It, Branagh proves himself to be the full-fledged Shakespeare visionary I always knew him to be.  In the aforementioned “From Page to Screen” featurette, actor Alfred Molina explains that Branagh “is responsible for reviving Shakespeare on film in a completely unique way, and he’s approached all the plays in his films with a fresh innovative eye.” 

In this particular film, Branagh’s vision has the perfect vehicle in an absolutely stellar ensemble cast.  Bryce Dallas Howard (The Village, Lady in the Water) is fantastic as Rosalind, and David Oyelowo (The Last King of Scotland) delivers a flawless performance as Orlando.  Yeah, I said it.  The man was flawless.   From battling brother, lion, and longing, to pitting love against melancholy with the melancho-holic Jaques, Oyelowo completely commands the screen.

Howard and Oyelowo as Rosalind and Orlando

As if that wasn’t enough, Kevin Kline is officially Han Solo to Oyelowo’s Luke Skywalker as Jaques.  Kline’s outstanding portrayal proves that all the world is indeed a stage, and - NEWS FLASH - he owns it.

Kevin Kline as Jaques

 But the awesomeness doesn’t stop with the leads in As You Like It.  Romola Garai (Amazing Grace) is hilarious as Celia.   Adrian Lester adds another great Branaghian Shakespeare film performance to his resume (he was also Dumaine in Branagh’s Love’s Labor’s Lost) as Orlando’s brother Oliver.   Shawn and Shakespeare Show Stealer Award winner Brian Blessed is back with Branagh and exceptional as ever while pulling double duke duty as both Duke Senior and Duke Frederick.  Blessed is as magnanimous as the former as he is menacing as the latter.     

Blessed is in the middle as the usurping samurai Duke Frederick

Yet the formidable strength of the cast did not prevent one individual from effective theatrical thievery.   The Shawn and Shakespeare Show Stealer Award for As You Like It belongs to the incomparable Alfred Molina.   Incidentally, I would also award Molina the Best-Villain in the Spider-Man Franchise Award as Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2 – but that’s beside the point.   As Touchstone in As You Like It, Molina may only have the one pair of arms, but, despite the limb deficit, he is magic from start to finish.  Molina is armed for hysterics with a fierce Kramer-esque hairdo, and charms his way about the forest with his wit-withering wisdom.  His comic timing is spot on throughout the film, and he’s so much fun to watch.  Despite his wise-cracks, protests, and promises of infidelity, it’s easy to see how Rosalind and Ceilia would be cheered by his company, and how he would handily win over Audrey, Jaques, and the rest of the Arden party. 

Molina as Touchstone and Romola Garai as Celia

As You Like It in its entirety is such a huge win: so well done artistically, and so much fun at the same time.   It’s easily my favorite Shakespearean film in the Shawn and Shakespeare Review Series thus far.  I guess I’ll have to figure out a rating system [should I give it four “globes”?  Three and a half “bards”?].  But, however I score it, As You Like It is the new barometer of what is possible in Shakespearean film, and evidence of just how good it can get.