William
Shakespeare's
Romeo+Juliet
The Music Edition
us release (region 1):
february 6, 2007
dvd review by: filip
vukcevic + mar-25-07
"You change and the
filmmaker changes but the film doesn't change. The film becomes like a friend,
and what I find with good-quality DVDs is that, like with a friend, you discover
different levels of that relationship."
- Baz Luhrmann from Director's Eternal Love, Toronto Sun,
Bruce Kirkland, February 2007
"We want to be
dealing with a cinema language that is not going to be working this year or even
next year, but is actually about getting through, what I call, the gate of the
millennium."
- Baz Luhrmann from Director's Gallery - Why Shakespeare?,
Romeo + Juliet: Special Edition DVD (2002), taken from a speech in
1998
INTRODUCTION
Congrats Baz - you've done it. For a man whose cinematic ambition has been to transcend - time periods, styles, and forms of communication - it must be satisfying to look back upon William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet ten years later. As a fan of cinema it has been an extremely rewarding decade to spend in the company of such a fine film. It's very comforting to know that Baz and the magicians of Iona have accomplished what they set out to do: take a story from yesterday, turn it into a film today, but never forget the audience of tomorrow.
When reviewing a DVD such as this one, there are two approaches you can take. You can take the normal path and write for as wide of an audience as possible. Or, you can do something really interesting, and write for a very specific audience: fans of Baz Luhrmann and his team. That is the style that this review will take, and it is wonderful that there exists a venue in which to place such an article. Being written for a Baz Luhrmann fansite, this review is both a joy and a relief to write. A relief because you know exactly who your audience is, and a joy because there are few things more exciting than sharing a dialogue with fellow fans.
My goal with this piece was to try and do something different. Something that I have always admired about Baz is his relentless desire to engage in something that is fresh, exciting, and, by virtue of his style, unique. So what better way to pay tribute to his team's achievements than to be inspired by them? My initial impulse was to write a review in the "Elizabethan" style - much like Romeo + Juliet the film, it would be loud, garish, violent, funny, and use whatever tools available to help communicate its message. After mulling this over I realized that, while an interesting challenge, writing a fan-targeted, Elizabethan DVD review may not be the best idea.
Telling a story and writing a review are ultimately two very different things. Trying to graft the style of one onto the other would be nothing more than "Hamlet in Hawaii". So, how to do something with the spirit of Baz's productions? Then it hit me: I sat down and asked, as Baz recommended decades ago, "Why am I doing this?". The purpose of a film is to entertain and to impart emotion, while the purpose of a review is to communicate opinion and provoke thought. The thing that distinguishes Baz's films, even when removed from the Red Curtain style, is that they are transcendent - so why not attempt that within the medium of a review?
As of this writing there is really only one thing that Baz Luhrmann fans want, and that is more information about Australia. Given that this DVD release is the latest piece of work that we have from Baz, wouldn't it be interesting to try and use the hints offered herein to predict what Australia may be like? What a challenge!
Also, you will notice that the film screenshots included in this review are not of the signature moments in the film. Rather, the images that I chose to capture were of background moments. Atmospheric moments. "Small" moments. But moments which are very important to the film nonetheless. To a fan of Romeo + Juliet these images bring to mind very specific musical cues and feelings. Again, there isn't any place out there where you can pull off something so strange, but here it makes perfect sense. We've seen the iconic moments of this film countless times - what I want, as a fan, is to be led to the edge of a memory, and then I can take what I know of the film and go on an emotional journey within myself.
This DVD release is an opportunity. It gives us a chance to combine new information with what we already know of Baz to create a sketch of what his new cinematic style may be like. More than the plot or the characters, that is what I am interested in: how will Baz's new style differ from his old? Let's see if we can't find some clues here, shall we? One thing is for certain, it will probably be even more thought out and developed than his Red Curtain style, which he spent a decade honing. So does that mean we're looking at an "Orange" style? After all, "Apple" has already been taken...
This is a well put together DVD which, in line with Iona's creed, is completely committed to what it has set out to do. In this disc's case, the goal is to provide viewers with all of the information about the music of Romeo + Juliet that they could ever want. It is slightly disappointing that we aren't offered the cornucopia of information that the Special Edition (2002) disc provided us with. But, it's also very interesting learning about the wonderful music in this very powerful film.
Baz Luhrmann's willingness to fully utilize the potential of DVD is a gift. Like similarly-minded filmmakers (i.e. Peter Jackson), Baz has taken the medium of DVD and pushed it into interesting and exciting new places. The Bonus Disc on the Red Curtain Trilogy DVD is a benchmark release (as was the Moulin Rouge! set before it), and this new focus-oriented disc is similarly fascinating. It is interesting to note that the previous discs were designed to use Baz's "audience participation" style, whereas this release is more about pin-point focus and highlighting the cooperation that went into the film. Perhaps this is a hint of what Australia's style may be like?
I suppose I've gone on for quite a bit, when all that really needed to be said was the following: you will enjoy this disc. Go out. Get it. Have fun.
Now, let's trip away to the details.
BOX AND MENU DESIGN
The box art makes for an attractive alternative to the original turquoise-themed Special Edition design. Wrapped around the box we've got an appealing vanilla-coloured sleeve. The front has a oval-shaped hole that reveals the key art of Romeo and Juliet kissing against an orange sky. Ornate, gold patterns highlight the edges of the sleeve.
The single-disc release is housed in a regular black Amray case with three inserts. The first is a flyer for the Romeo + Juliet 10th Anniversary Edition CD, released as the same time as this disc (including three new tracks, one of which is a 2007 mix of "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)"). The second insert is a small flyer for several 20th Century Fox films (one of which is Moulin Rouge!). The third insert is a two-page booklet with short notes on each aspect of the film. We've got snippets on The Idea, The Setting, The Language, The Location, The Look, and The Music.
The booklet opens with the full quote from Professor Jonathan Bate (The University of Warwick), the distinguished individual who so intelligently defended Baz's interpretation of the film in the Impact featurette under the Director's Gallery of the Special Edition: "Part of the Shakespeare story is to do with heritage. You only have to look at the Stratford tourist industry. The danger of that is that it makes Shakespeare into this rather old-fashioned, cosy, establishment figure. But that's not what Shakespeare is about. Shakespeare uses heritage in his plays, but he does so in order to say vital things to the present. His plays have got to be adapted in order to evolve. That's how he stays alive. Antiquarianism - doublet and hose - would be the death of Shakespeare. The best Shakespeare is always Shakespeare made contemporary. In the late twentieth century the way to do that is through the cinema, and so it seems to me that one of the great achievements of our time is Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet film, which keeps the authentic text but updates the setting and makes Shakespeare familiar to a whole new generation."
Bate's emphasis on Shakespeare needing to be adapted in order to survive feels very familiar. Given Baz's intense study and emulation of Shakespeare, might we say the same about his films? Granted, it's a stretch to hope that Luhrmann's work will still be relevant 400 years from now. But looking at a much shorter period of time, it stands to reason that this very DVD release is Luhrmann's attempt at keeping his own film "alive" in much the same way he kept Shakespeare's play alive. By re-releasing a movie on DVD in a thoughtful and intelligent way, and by focusing on an unexamined aspect of the film, it is possible to bring fresh energy to a film and renewed passion to the fans. I, for one, cannot wait to see what Baz does to bring new life to Moulin Rouge! - something that I do not doubt will happen, but probably not for a few years yet (at least until late 2009, after the inevitably-first Australia DVD).
Continuing with the booklet, most of the factoids are just repetition of what we already knew - setting the film in Miami was a key in communicating the language, etc. However, there are a few tidbits that felt new. First, that "Luhrmann and Pearce did their writing in Miami in 1994." This is interesting as it echoes the process that Baz and Craig went through for Moulin Rouge!. Amusingly, this implies that Baz used the same technique, writing "on location", for Australia. Another interesting bit of information is that "Everyone got sick. Shooting shut down for a week while Luhrmann had a temperature of 110." This feels like the first time we've heard that Baz had been sick for a week during the R+J shoot. It brings new meaning to Baz's declaration (Bonus Disc) of, "Romeo + Juliet nearly killed me. So I thought, for my next film, let's do something fun - like a musical!"
Finally, we've got some interesting statistics on the sales of the soundtrack: the first album sold more than seven million copies worldwide, while the second "concept album" sold more than one million copies.
As for the contents of the disc, somewhat surprisingly, the main menu follows the exact same design as on the Special Edition. In fact, the menu is identical, with the only change being the new "Music Edition" link in the lower right-hand corner. It is slightly disappointing that we don't have a new R+J-inspired design to look at, however, sticking with the same menu design is in-line with the mission statement of the release.
When you select the "Music Edition" option you are taken to the main special features page. It is more or less identical to the main menu, but it has a new image (not used on the Special Edition) of Harold Perrineau's flamboyant Mercutio - an image that is very fitting for this musical take on the film.
SPECIAL FEATURES
MUSIC MACHINE
The first extra we are presented with is the "Music Machine" feature. Clicking on this takes you to a page where you can select from fourteen different music cues in the film. Click a song and you are taken to the scene in the film where the music is featured. Conveniently, the feature takes you back to the menu after the song has finished playing. While this is a welcome addition to the disc, it is not much of an extra. You're not getting anything here that you couldn't get from the chapter-select or fast-forward buttons on your control.
COMMENTARIES
In many ways these commentaries are the main course. Not only do we get to hear new stuff from Baz - always a treat - but we've also got a separate track each for co-composers Craig Armstrong and Marius De Vries. On the whole, it's wonderful hearing from these people, but the final result is a mixed bag. Baz has some great stuff to say for the first half of his commentary, but by the time we're halfway through the film he has, sadly, exhausted most of his comments. Unfortunately, this is the quietest Baz has ever been on a track. Craig Armstrong is even quieter, only piping in with a few comments every now and then. Luckily, Marius De Vries has plenty to say, talking for nearly the entire duration of the film. His track is the best of the three.
COMMENTARY: BAZ LUHRMANN
"Hi. I'm Baz. And I'm sitting in the Red Room in the House of Iona, our creative home, in Sydney, Australia." begins the first commentary we've had from Baz in half a decade. It is always great listening to Baz, but I couldn't help but feel that he was somewhat restrained in this track. Because he restricted himself to only discussing music-related topics, he did not have the normally wide array of subjects to bring up. Granted, several times he does say, "I know this is the music disc, but..." and it's nice that he strays from the rigid path. However, there seems to be only so much he can say about music and after the one hour mark, he only talks for a few minutes for the rest of the film. Nevertheless, when he is talking he's saying some very interesting things. "All films have music. Even films that don't have music," he tells us. Later, he observes that when he looks back on the film, it doesn't seem as fast and crazy as it was when first released. Does this mean that Baz was ahead of the curve, or that he helped shape it?
It seems obvious to this Luhrmann fan that best way to deal with these commentaries would have been to have Luhrmann, Armstrong, and De Vries sit down and record one track together. Perhaps geography, or schedules, kept them from this? It's a shame, as I'm sure that the three of them together would have made for a far better experience than having them record, as they do, separately.
As for Baz, for each of his previous tracks (which were all with other people) he's been a jazzed, fountain of information, but here, alone, he seems to have quieted. The lack of someone to bounce off of is unfortunate - Baz, it seems, needs a physical audience, whether it be a moderator (Bonus Disc) or friend. This quieter track is a very interesting insight into Baz's creative process. He's always talked about how he is the captain of his team (Bonus Disc, Iona Featurette: "It's my gesture..."), how he cannot do what he does without them. It seems that this is true: on his own he's still great, just not spectacular.
What does this tell us about Australia? Well, it has had three writers throw their hat in the ring (in addition to Baz); Ronald Harwood (The Pianist), Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl), and Richard Flanagan (The Sound of One Hand Clapping). The notable exception is the always excellent Craig Pearce - an omission that is as unfortunate as it is curious. Perhaps Baz and Craig felt they couldn't form the new style together? Or perhaps Pearce just had another project he would rather have worked on (the "Pineapple" style?). Whatever the case, it is interesting to think that the more people Baz works with, and the more skilled they are, the better the final product. And so, because Australia has had so many writers, it follows that it has the potential to be Baz's best story yet.
COMMENTARY: CRAIG ARMSTRONG
Armstrong's music has always been fantastic. His scored work in Romeo + Juliet and the magic he brought to Love Actually are some of the best love anthems in cinemaland. However, the very talented Mr. Armstrong is not particularly good at providing film commentaries. Again, it is unfortunate that he wasn't put in a room with Baz as he seems like the type of person that can really provide fantastic information if only given someone with whom to discuss. Then again, as he says, "It's hard to talk about music... as you can tell..."
While he is quiet for most of the track, Armstrong does provide some nice background information on his compositional work. For example, the sad music that plays when Romeo realizes that Juliet is a Capulet was originally written by Armstrong seven years earlier. He inserted it as temp music, but Baz liked it so much that it was kept in the film.
We do not yet know if Armstrong will be involved in Australia and he doesn't provide any information in this commentary to hint one way or the other. Is Baz perhaps looking for a new composer to go with his new cinematic style, in the same way he worked with new writers? It would be unfortunate to have a Baz Luhrmann film without Craig Armstrong's wonderful music. After all, while he may be quiet in a commentary, Armstrong is impossible to miss when he speaks to us through his art. His musical voice is achingly beautiful. And there, he speaks loudly.
COMMENTARY: MARIUS De VRIES
If Baz ran out of steam near the end and Armstrong was generally subdued throughout, then the surprisingly talkative Mr. De Vries makes up for both of his colleagues as he provides the best commentary of the three. He seems rather quiet in the footage we see of him on the Moulin Rouge! disc, so it was a surprise - a very pleasant surprise - to listen to him talk for virtually the entire film.
It sounds as if Marius is reading from written notes. Not a common practice to be certain, but if this is the result, then it should definitely be adopted by more commentators. Then again, who knows, maybe he is just a cosmically well-spoken individual?
Marius infuses his track with an excellent sense of humour: "Nellee making what I'm pretty sure is at once his debut... and his swan song as a lead vocalist", is followed with, "#^@* me, those fireworks are great...", and "The wedding is on. And here is the second choir-boy moment. Quinden, again leading the boys, in my arrangement of 'Everybody's Free to Feel Good', as I might have performed it myself, had I still been twelve years old..." He's also very respectful of his fellow artists, "Craig really nailed this. It seems inappropriate to speak here... other than to ask, was there ever a more beautiful set in the history of sets?" Marius, it seems, has out-fanned this fan.
De Vries is also very on-point with the direction of the DVD release. He talks a lot about where certain vocals or sound effects were recorded on-set and then "massaged into the track." He also has many interesting factoids to reveal, like how on-set the "Kissing You" dance sequence (with Juliet and Paris) was recorded against different music: "It always worried me that the dancing, having been shot to a different piece of music, was so clearly out of time with our song. But I was wrong, I realized, because the important thing here is how the song plays out, more or less, in its entirety, through various different emotional temperatures in the action, emphasizing the inevitability of Romeo and Juliet's coming together. Once the process is set in motion, the logic says, nothing will disrupt it. Not the Nurse, not even Tybalt's angry attempt to attack the Montague who has crashed the party."
Whether it's acknowledging where a certain musical cue has connotations to John Carpenter's Halloween theme, or whether he's just letting us know how much he enjoyed, and still enjoys, the film, Marius De Vries provides a truly fantastic commentary track. As if all of this wasn't good enough, Marius takes the small, but significant, step that is the commentary sign-off. There are so many tracks out there that either end anti-climactically, or with abrupt and cold silence. After you've spent the past two hours listening to a person talk, it's only polite for the speaker to say some words of farewell, like, say, "Speaking from Sydney, Australia, and signing off now, I'd just like to say... Happy Birthday, Romeo + Juliet."
It seems that we're also in the dark as to Marius De Vries' involvement in Australia. However, one hopes that he is deeply involved in the project, not only because he has been so excellent on Baz's previous films, but because it may mean that we will get another commentary from De Vries at some point in the future. And that, his outstanding craftsmanship aside, is something that Marius simply cannot deny us.
The buck's been passed back to you, Baz.
ROMEO + JULIET: THE MUSIC
While the commentaries may provide more entertainment in terms of sheer duration, this documentary (which runs for 47:07) will perhaps be the most attractive extra for many. It's certainly the highlight for more casual fans who don't listen to commentaries (i.e. sissies) as it's got a great flow and combines lots of interesting comments from the entire musical team, including both studio and production people. There is quite an emphasis on collaboration in the face of a mighty opponent - the powerful, hard-to-convince execs that need to be logically forced into believing that they have to make the film. It is interesting to learn from Matt Walden (Formerly Senior VP of Music, Fox Music) that the film was just barely greenlit - it seems that some of the flashy salesmanship in the Moulin Rouge! "Spectacular, Spectacular" number was first employed here. Did Baz and co. literally need the song and dance? Well, no... they needed more!
Anton Monsted discusses how during production Baz had him put together a big sheet with the sequences written on the top and the music on the bottom. In-line with Baz's meticulous planning, we learn that all of the places where there would be music were known as early as the writing stage. Later, Marius talks about how Romeo's introduction is the first calm you have after fifteen minutes of intensity. Because of this you are much more drawn to him as a character; a strategy that Baz once again masterfully applied to the introduction of Satine.
When it comes Baz's time to talk, he goes into a long speech on the difficulty - and importance - of putting together the "Kissing You" scene. As I'm sure you've noticed, he managed to pull it off - everything from the fishtank to the slow realization is perfection. Of course, because it's Baz talking, you are entranced. He seems to have an innate ability to arrest attention - to slow time. It is interesting to contrast his more excited moods (as we see in this documentary, or in the core track on the Bonus Disc) with his calmer periods (on this commentary or on the Bonus Disc when he speaks of the peace at Iona). When Baz has an audience, one he is aware of, he is on fire. But in quieter, softer moments, we see a new side to him. A thoughtful side. One that seems to have seen much and already experienced a lifetime's worth. Where this sage-like serenity comes from is perhaps something that Australia, if not future projects, will reveal.
This documentary does an excellent job on shedding light on one aspect of making films that isn't normally discussed: the business of the music. These are huge deals and their significance is not to be overlooked. Given the complexity of the music in this film, and its subsequent success, one must wonder what the process was like for Moulin Rouge!. Was arranging the music deals easier, because Baz had already proven himself, or was it harder, because he was once again pushing into new, challenging territory? One suspects it is the latter. By a lot.
Of course, all of the music business and excitement is tempered by Baz's closing thoughts. We are reminded what the ultimate mission of all of this is: "Through the fact that Shakespeare just focused on telling story, and he used whatever he could to convey that story. And when it came to music, he used whatever music he could. And he wasn't judgmental about it. It forced me to let go of my judgment. It forced me to be open to every kind of musical form. And for me, I guess that's the power of Shakespeare. It's the way he manages not only to bring all forms of music together, and all forms of theatre together, he manages to bring all kinds of humanity together." The piece ends with some great slow pans and zooms on film and production stills. The editing resonates very strongly with Baz's closing comments.
Romeo + Juliet: The Music was produced and directed by the precursor to Dubsy, Anton Monsted (what might he have been called? "Monsy"?) and he has done an excellent job. It's nice to see that Monsted is still part of the Bazmark team, no longer an Assistant, but a Music Supervisor. One wonders what role Dubsy will play down the line... and who the new Dubsy will be. The documentary's editor is Jonathan Redmond, who served as the First Assistant Editor: Digital on Moulin Rouge!. The "In Charge of Production" credit goes to Amanda Luhrmann - a relative of Baz's, it seems? Sister? From what's out there so far, I was under the impression that Baz only had brothers ("The Renaissance boys of Heron Creek").
It is no doubt safe to assume that the documentary cameras are already rolling on Australia, and one hopes that they have been for some time already. If the DVD documentaries on that film are as good as this one, then we've got a lot to look forward to. In the meantime, we can only hope that Iona's New Media department is busy preparing Australia online materials (...please).
THE LONDON MUSIC MIX
This isn't a particularly compelling featurette and, given its short runtime (4:05), and the fact that it would have fit very naturally into the main featurette, one assumes that it is here simply to help fluff the extras list. It has snippets from some of the brave crew who were confined to the London mixing booth where the soup-of-a-film was cooked to perfection. If nothing else, it illuminates how trying, tiring, and time consuming the mixing process was. One technician reveals that they worked 22-hour days. This very much brings to mind Baz's comments on the Special Edition disc: when you're working on a film it's really got to be something that excites you - for years! - because it's a very long, exhausting process. You have to love the project so much that you'd wake up at five in the morning every day to work on it. And on that note, it turns out that the informative Mr. De Vries was the first in the booth to collapse (the gentlemen took bets).
THE JOURNEY OF THE SONG
YOUNG HEARTS RUN FREE
EVERYBODY'S FREE
TEMP MUSIC
These three short featurettes highlight a few of the factors that went into these scenes, both from a musical and production standpoint. The first, Young Hearts Run Free (2:13) details the the zany Mercutio dance sequence at the Capulet mansion. It's very clearly a precursor to the glorious energy of Moulin Rouge! which makes one wonder: what is there in Moulin Rouge! that can be a precursor to Australia? Certainly nothing from a stylistic standpoint, but perhaps from a story angle? Throughout the Red Curtain films the underlying themes have gotten more complex and more simple, both at the same time (if that makes sense). So does this mean the simple theme, yet complex execution, of Moulin Rouge! will be brought to an even higher level in Australia, irrespective of style? One can only hope.
The second of the mini-featurettes, Everybody's Free (1:38), has even more footage of Baz in the pool listening to Quinden Tarver's audition. We also get a modern-day Baz reflecting on how the studio wanted big stars to sing these signature songs, but he felt it would be better to go with whatever would be best for the emotional impact in the film. The piece closes off with more footage (previously unseen) of young Quinden singing "Everybody's Free" on-set, in the church. Some pipes on that kid.
Finally there's the short segment devoted to Temp Music (1:57) from several parts in the film. Baz recalls how the "Angel" music queue, when Juliet is watching the fireworks, was quite a fluke: "I remember going up at Jill Billcock's house and we were editing and playing through all these tracks. And I think take number two, I just put it in, it was one of those moments where it goes, 'Boo-ro-ro-r... Angel...' and you go, 'Chk... that's the one...' " It closes off with some thoughts from Marius on how Baz's music queue choices were all very deliberately chosen to help illuminate the text, and the story. In fact, this can be said to be Baz's Rule #1: whatever you use, it must help tell the story. This is one aspect that will no doubt carry over to Australia. One cannot help but wonder what role the mysterious boychild in the film will play. If we do not yet know what he will be doing, we already know why he is there: to very specifically help tell the story.
AUDIO & VIDEO
A screenshot-by-screenshot comparison for a pair of scenes reveals that this disc's video transfer is identical to the one found on the Special Edition. That 2002 transfer was an excellent one - with a film as bright and colourful as Romeo + Juliet you shouldn't settle for anything less than gorgeous colours and a clean print, and that's what we get. With a few minor exceptions (during the "Kissing You" sequence, when Des'ree is bathed in light she appears too red and blurry), this is a superb transfer.
There is a nice surprise in the audio department, and that is the addition of a 5.1 DTS track to supplement the regular 5.1 mix that is on the 2002 release. DTS tracks are usually more refined and clear than their regular 5.1 brethren, but this track didn't have many perceptible differences, other than the DTS track being quieter (it doesn't help that you have to go back to the main menu to change audio options - this makes it very difficult to determine the difference between the two tracks). If you've got the setup at home, the DTS track will be a welcome option, but it doesn't seem to add enough to be noticed by any but the most hardcore of audiophiles.
CONCLUSION
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet is a remarkable film. It does everything that good cinema should do: evoke emotion, invite discussion, and demand to be rewatched again and again. This newly released DVD set, while not as good as the previous Bazmark discs, is a very welcome addition to the shelf. It has been put together in a style which relates to the film and that is reason enough to recommend it wholeheartedly to Luhrmaniacs the world over.
But what this new release really allows us is an arena in which to dream of Australia. It is inspiring to think that, like "Romeo & Juliet" the play, the best is yet to come. While there have been some fantastic interpretations of the Bard's story in the past, one of the most fantastic was just ten years ago. So who knows what we'll get ten years from now? Or twenty? Or fifty or a hundred? That transcendent power throbs within this film. It will live on and there is no end to the amazing new worlds this story will see.
Realizing and sharing this is the magic of one Mr. Bazmark Luhrmann - an artist of a man who is breathing to life new ideas and emotions as you read these very words. Stand in the right spot and tilt your ear in the right direction and you can hear it; a quiet murmur on the wind. But not for long. Soon, preciously soon, we shall all be in Australia.
