A Flim That's Hard to Take

Rating: Null/10 (19 September 1999)

I just found this film to be pretentious and at times untentionally funny. What really makes Romeo + Juliet hard to take is scenes which consist of the dialog being delivered via shouting (unintelligibly). Not only can the overacting be able to garner in some laughs, it's certain scenes that almost feels like something out of a sitcom like for example, the balcony scene (which here takes place in a swimming pool). Also, the camera work is often bungled here. Certain areas in Romeo + Juliet are either overblown (like a car chase a one point), incredibly cartoonish, or incorporate unnecessary imagery. A perfect example of scenes consisting of unnecessary imagery, is a scene which consist of a character picking up a gun (pondering weather or not to kill themself). The problem with that particular scene is that the camera work incorporates blurry, slow moving, imagery which not only is distracting, but also (if you look further into it) makes a sensation out of suicide. And speaking of areas in the film that can use a deeper examination, I somehow get a feeling that there's some hidden fascinating with the Roadrunner cartoons e.g. the opening montage which consist of everything moving at a fast pace before there's a sudden freeze frame and we're soon introduced to the characters (just like in the cartoons) and a scene in which a character speeds out of a bedroom as if they were the Roadrunner. I just think that the style in Romeo + Juliet gave the notion that if it wasn't for the camera work, the people behind the film would belive that you would just get bored.