a film soaked in blood and the wonders of Fassbender and Cotillard

Rating: 8/10 (17 January 2016)

The things that Justin Kurzwel's new film of Shakespeare's Macbeth are the sense of place that feels so authentic as to bordering on documentary-level, which is then off-set by the surreal, hellish sense of color (various shades of red make this so vivid as to be piercing to the senses at times), and then the performances, which are authentic to the point of feeling like these actors could leap off the screen.
Surely if you haven't seen the adaptations by Welles or Polanski, or still the best Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, see those first. But it was playing near me in the city, it has Michael Fassbender digging so deeply as well as Marion Cotillard in the titular role and Lady Macbeth respectively that you feel like they almost forget they're acting in these parts, and thus it was a foregone conclusion to see it (David Thewlis also has a few good scenes as a certain obstacle in Macbeth's path).
Luckily it's directed and presented with a firm degree of darkness and intensity, and while it may be SO much of a dirge into the dirt and heavy Scottish accents that you'll pray to get sunshine outside the theater, it's some strong art.