William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
First screened in May 1999 / Most recently screened in May 2020
Director: Michael Hoffman. Cast: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Dominic West, Anna Friel, Christian Bale, Stanley Tucci, David Strathairn, Sophie Marceau, Bernard Hill, Sam Rockwell, Roger Rees, Max Wright, Bill Irwin, Gregory Jbara, John Sessions. Screenplay: Michael Hoffman (based on the play by William Shakespeare). Twitter Capsule:
Mostly flat soufflé. Arbitrary Italian setting, underexploited cast, mundane style.
VOR:②
Traces of credible choices (bringing visual effects into unusual genre, drawing on 19thC fairy-painting aesthetics) but it felt empty in '99 and more so now.
