Palaest recommended

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

to_bornotb Though I have watched this documentary many times I find that now after watching it during my enrollment in a documentary film class I am able to appreciate the film all that much more. Pacino's passion as an actor is vividly captured in this documentary and the breaks that he offers in order for the audience to "catch-up" illustrates that he understands his notions as an actor place him in a better understanding of the Shakespearean play, Richard III; but, he does not impose that notion upon the viewer. He is dedicated to helping the viewer understand the play and in doing so gives off a great sense of authority over the play and the production. I enjoyed the rehearsal readings that showed the actors were somewhat in the same boat of misunderstanding as the audience was. By walking the streets of New York and discussing Shakespeare in the most usually of places demonstrates how Pacino envisioned Shakespeare to be a more intricate part of our daily lives. As a participatory film, Pacino demonstrates the art of documenting by choosing the scenes in which he is selecting the settings for the shots to be filmed, he controls the dialogue that takes place on camera and decides which scenes of the play with be discussed more extensively on camera. This film gained a new appreciation from an old fan by noticing the different cinematic techniques that Al Pacino considers while they take place on film.

rabyhook A wonderful film in my experience. An American team of players and directors trying to dig into the material of an unpopular play by Shakespeare, telling the story of one of the least popular kings in the chain of kings. Richard III. To follow the search for the soul in this play, and to try to understand the story, is the object of these persons' hunt. Al Pacino is Pacino, walking around in baggy clothes being Pacino Himself. Still, he manage to always be intensely interested in digging into the bones of the story. Maybe he don't success truly in this, still he manage to show the sentral scenes of this play in a dramatic new and powerful way. The scenes of this film switch between artists reading in modern environments, interwievs with British Shakespearian educated players, and scenes with full dramatic costumes. From Richard III in this film, one of the scenes that made me shiver was the one where Richard pretends to be "hexed" by some people close to him, and get people in his own ranks to be arrested and executed, in pure paranoia, or just to get rid of them. From that scene and on he went to his own undergang. Al Pacino is turning into this pathetic, mean man, a hunchback in this play as well (according to history). In the end, Richard stand alone, and cry for "A horse!!!!" ....."My kingdom for a horse ...". And in this scene Pacino manage to show the downfall of Richard. Even if the play failes to tell why the Tudors killed him. This film is about the play by the Bard. Not a history lesson.I should explain much better why I love this film so much. It's hard for me to explain the feeling this film gave me, and to my old parents. We knew the play, we have The Complete Works. But would never be snobbish about Shakespeare. I can't give a better explanation than this film showed me clever, extremely gifted people doing a very decent and heartfelt, even not brilliant, peace of work. I love it.

Andres Salama Pacino's directing debut is a (sort of) documentary of him as he prepares to film Shakespeare's Richard III (with him on the title role, of course). We see him researching the material, going to Shakespeare's house in England, rehearsing with the actors, interviewing people on the street about Shakespeare, interviewing scholars. As the film progresses, we actually see him performing (parts) of the play with the actors (including Alec Baldwin and Winona Ryder, among others). Its enjoyable and informative, though it is sometimes irritating when Pacino asks questions to the scholars he already knows the answer to. It's a bit self-indulgent, also, though Pacino does come as a likable person. But his unpretentiousness seems a bit too studied, too labored (hey, Shakespeare is for normal people too, he seems to say, a little too many times).

Jackson Booth-Millard This documentary mixed with great Shakespearean film-making is a good example of an actor directing his own film, especially a documentary. Basically Al Pacino (acting, directing, writing and producing) is attempting to turn William Shakespeare's Richard III into a film, and along the way there are moments and rehearsals from what will be the film, and interviews from experts and people that have used the work of Shakespeare, oh, and a few people on the street. People who appear in the film acting and interviewed include Pacino (also as Richard III), Penelope Allen (also as Queen Elizabeth), Gordon MacDonald (also as Dorset), Madison Arnold (also as Rivers), Vincent Angell (also as Grey), Bean's Harris Yulin (also as King Edward), Alec Baldwin (also as Duke of Clarence), Timmy Prairie as Prince Edward, Landon Prairie as Young Prince, Kevin Conway (also as Hastings), Larry Bryggman (also as Lord Stanley), Kevin Spacey (also as Earl of Buckingham), Winona Ryder as Lady Anne, Aidan Quinn as Richmond, F. Murray Abraham, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Kline, James Earl Jones, Derek Jacobi, John Gielgud and Vanessa Redgrave. A great look at both a genius of the stage and writing, but also a great look of what film-making involves. Very good!