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Revengers Tragedy (2002, Alex Cox)
Alex Cox is a strange old bird who seems quite content with ploughing his own furrow. From ‘80s Indie staples such as Repo Man and Sid And Nancy to documentaries about the Emmanuelle films, he’s never been bound by convention. Revengers Tragedy, his most recent cinematic release, is an adaptation of Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean play.
” I'm tired of the apostrophe. Nobody knows what to do with them any more (even though the rule regarding apostrophes is very simple, it seems to have become totally un-learnable). There wasn't one on the title page of THE REVENGERS TRAGEDIE and what's good enough for Tom M is good enough for me.”
The movie has an extremely interesting cast with the lead taken by Christopher Ecclestone (most recently seen as BBC TV’s Doctor Who but a fine character actor in his own right). Veteran Shakespearian thesp Derek Jacobi plays the Machiavellian Duke, murderer of Vindici’s (Ecclestone) new bride Gloriana (seen only in silent flashback and played by the beautiful, auburn-haired, leggy, freckled Riverdance lead, Jean Butler). There are other notable appearances by Eddie Izzard (Lussurioso), Sophie Dahl (Imogen), Tony Blair’s Father-In-Law Tony Booth as Lord Antonio and Margi “Letter To Brezhnev” Clark.
In terms of setting, lighting and costume Revengers Tragedy has a style that I haven’t witnessed on screen since Derek Jarman’s 1977 Punk odyssey Jubilee. Expect bondage trousers, fishnets, back-combed hair, piercings, tartan and lashings of make-up - and that’s just the men. Izzard is on familiar turf here though poor old Derek Jacobi takes on the look of a granded Goth waxwork…
Being an adaptation of a work from the Shakespearian period, Cox has chosen not to interfere with the language, though his characters speak in a broad Liverpudlian (or Scouse, for those this side of the pond) accent. He’s also decided to pepper the prose with some modern phrasing. For example, when Vindici produces a skull from his bag his brother murmurs “F**kin’ ‘Ell mate!”, which is hilarious at times, though, I suspect, not intentionally so.
Cox on the dialogue: ”To emphasize, in a filmic way, the absolute absence of change! The injustices of the early 17th century are those of the early 21st. Corrupt and powerful forces oppress the poor and the meek. The poor rise up. They are suppressed. And a younger generation of poor, angrier and with access to weapons, rises up to take revenge... Just as US foreign policy in Central America was the same in 1856 as in 1986.”
The film itself is lightening paced, messy and self-indulgent. But also great fun. The echoes of Jarman’s Jubilee (and his adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest) are unavoidable given the subject matter and ‘look’ that Cox has given the film - Revengers Tragedy has a of Future Noir feel, though more Clockwork Orange than Blade Runner. There’s an energy here that I find most appealing, Cox’s zeal for Middleton’s play really shining through, but overall I’d file it under experimental.
Definitely worth a rent though, especially if you’d like to see Doctor Who head butting a teenage boy and Sir Derek Jacobi in white makeup with black lipstick.
Prithee!! I'll give it a
Website with trailer
Alex Cox quotes taken from alexcox.com
Alex Cox is a strange old bird who seems quite content with ploughing his own furrow. From ‘80s Indie staples such as Repo Man and Sid And Nancy to documentaries about the Emmanuelle films, he’s never been bound by convention. Revengers Tragedy, his most recent cinematic release, is an adaptation of Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean play.
” I'm tired of the apostrophe. Nobody knows what to do with them any more (even though the rule regarding apostrophes is very simple, it seems to have become totally un-learnable). There wasn't one on the title page of THE REVENGERS TRAGEDIE and what's good enough for Tom M is good enough for me.”
The movie has an extremely interesting cast with the lead taken by Christopher Ecclestone (most recently seen as BBC TV’s Doctor Who but a fine character actor in his own right). Veteran Shakespearian thesp Derek Jacobi plays the Machiavellian Duke, murderer of Vindici’s (Ecclestone) new bride Gloriana (seen only in silent flashback and played by the beautiful, auburn-haired, leggy, freckled Riverdance lead, Jean Butler). There are other notable appearances by Eddie Izzard (Lussurioso), Sophie Dahl (Imogen), Tony Blair’s Father-In-Law Tony Booth as Lord Antonio and Margi “Letter To Brezhnev” Clark.
In terms of setting, lighting and costume Revengers Tragedy has a style that I haven’t witnessed on screen since Derek Jarman’s 1977 Punk odyssey Jubilee. Expect bondage trousers, fishnets, back-combed hair, piercings, tartan and lashings of make-up - and that’s just the men. Izzard is on familiar turf here though poor old Derek Jacobi takes on the look of a granded Goth waxwork…
Being an adaptation of a work from the Shakespearian period, Cox has chosen not to interfere with the language, though his characters speak in a broad Liverpudlian (or Scouse, for those this side of the pond) accent. He’s also decided to pepper the prose with some modern phrasing. For example, when Vindici produces a skull from his bag his brother murmurs “F**kin’ ‘Ell mate!”, which is hilarious at times, though, I suspect, not intentionally so.
Cox on the dialogue: ”To emphasize, in a filmic way, the absolute absence of change! The injustices of the early 17th century are those of the early 21st. Corrupt and powerful forces oppress the poor and the meek. The poor rise up. They are suppressed. And a younger generation of poor, angrier and with access to weapons, rises up to take revenge... Just as US foreign policy in Central America was the same in 1856 as in 1986.”
The film itself is lightening paced, messy and self-indulgent. But also great fun. The echoes of Jarman’s Jubilee (and his adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest) are unavoidable given the subject matter and ‘look’ that Cox has given the film - Revengers Tragedy has a of Future Noir feel, though more Clockwork Orange than Blade Runner. There’s an energy here that I find most appealing, Cox’s zeal for Middleton’s play really shining through, but overall I’d file it under experimental.
Definitely worth a rent though, especially if you’d like to see Doctor Who head butting a teenage boy and Sir Derek Jacobi in white makeup with black lipstick.
Prithee!! I'll give it a
Website with trailer
Alex Cox quotes taken from alexcox.com