Branagh takes the Bard into the woods
Shakespeare goes au naturel in Kenneth Branagh's new version of "As You Like It," but if you might think that means it's been altered to suit HBO, get ready to be pleasantly and wholesomely surprised.
Branagh eschews the nudity and profanity of premium cable and instead stays faithful to Shakespeare's text (for the most part) in this BBC Films co-production. While transposing the play to a setting in 19th-century Japan, he also transports its Forest of Arden into the real world.
This "As You Like It," debuting at 8 p.m. Tuesday on HBO, takes place not onstage or even on a movie soundstage, but in the actual woods. It's a beautiful production, full of greens and reds and golds, so while it makes few concessions to popular tastes, Branagh's adaptation of the play is nevertheless enchanting.
Some will no doubt feel they've been tricked into watching, with the action-sequence opening and all the ensuing natural beauty, when the actual Shakespearean language proves to be as forbidding as ever. But for those used to the lingo, this soon establishes itself as a lovely, pitch-perfect update.
Bryce Dallas Howard is as beautiful as the scenery in the sex-shifting role of Rosalind and Ganymede, and Kevin Kline turns up as the "melancholy man" Jacques to deliver one of Shakespeare's most famous speeches. ("All the world's a stage" etc.) Alfred Molina goes a little Eraserhead overboard with his coif as the fool Touchstone, but otherwise the cast is pleasant and engaging, if not quite as A-list adorable as in Branagh's earlier feature- film comedy "Much Ado About Nothing."
"As You Like It" is considered one of Shakespeare's good, solid, if slight mid-career comedies. The clear parallels it has with "King Lear," the tragedy that followed, help darken it and bring out the substance lurking within all the farcical confusion over hidden identity. Like "Lear," it concerns banishment, lost children and sibling rivalries, but it turns all that into the stuff of a lighthearted meditation on love rather than a tragic analysis of fate.
Branagh's version opens in the Japan of the 19th century, where British businessmen are working on trade agreements. That's when Duke Frederick breaks in with a pack of ninja samurai to unseat his brother, Duke Senior, and send him into exile.
At the same time, David Oyelowo's Orlando is bitter over his treatment at the hands of his older brother, Adrian Lester's Oliver. Orlando vanquishes a sumo wrestler Oliver would have kill him, in the process making a strong impression on Rosalind, daughter of Duke Senior. But when Oliver's plans extend to outright murder, Orlando too hightails it into the wilds. Before long, Rosalind is exiled as well, joined by her best friend, Duke Frederick's daughter Celia, along with Touchstone. Considering that a fool doesn't offer much protection, Rosalind and Celia disguise themselves as a young man, Ganymede, and his sister, Aliena.
From there, it's only a matter of time before Rosalind, Orlando and Duke Senior are reunited in the woods and reconciled, but Shakespeare enjoys a bit of a lark along the way by having Rosalind's Ganymede instruct Orlando on how not to fall in love.
"Love is merely a madness," he/she says, also declaring, "I thank God I am not a woman."
She counsels a shepherd couple as well, even as the lady shepherd thinks she's falling for Ganymede. (As usual in this sort of thing, Rosalind's conversion is not quite convincing; she's almost prettier as a man than she is as a woman.) Meanwhile, Touchstone is falling for a wench named Audrey, and Oliver shows up only to be smitten by Aliena.
Through it all, cinematographer Roger Lanser shoots with an eye for natural beauty as keen as for human beauty, and Branagh displays his usual astute feel for Shakespeare and for actors. He juxtaposes Duke Senior's kindness with Duke Frederick's ruthlessness (Brian Blessed plays both roles). At one point, while the shepherds, Orlando and Ganymede are performing a round of love declarations, Branagh's camera circles them in what amounts to a visual pun.
This "As You Like It" isn't quite as viewer-friendly as Branagh's "Much Ado." For one thing, it lacks his star quality, as well as that of Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington (not to mention Michael Keaton and Keanu Reeves). Yet it also doesn't strain as much to please; it's as confident in its splendor as it is in its reserve. It puts itself out there, and if a premium-cable viewer doesn't like it, fine, he or she can always go over to Showtime for a rerun of "Californication." Yet give this "As You Like It" a chance and it's apt to be love at first sight. There's just something about its natural beauty -- both in form and in words.
In the air
Remotely interesting: Turner Classic Movies features Elvis Presley all day to celebrate his death 30 years ago. The high point is "Jailhouse Rock" at 7 p.m.
TNT has already renewed "The Closer" with Kyra Sedgwick for a fourth season.
End of the dial: Richard Durham, who wrote and produced the groundbreaking black-history series "Destination Freedom" for WMAQ 670-AM and later wrote for WBBM 780-AM, was announced as an inductee into the Radio Hall of Fame at the Museum of Broadcast Communications last week.
He'll be inducted along with Jimmy Durante, New York City Top 40 disc jockey Dan Ingram, National Public Radio "Piano Jazz" host Marian McPartland and San Diego Padre announcer Jerry Coleman in a gala ceremony Nov. 3.
-- Ted Cox