my personal favorite

Rating: 10/10 (5 August 2014)

Romeo and Juliet might be the greatest love story of all times and I do not want to get into detail too much about what it is about in this review - which is my first on IMDb. I would rather like to somewhat share with you the way I experienced it.
Back in my teenage years I saw Romeo + Juliet in cinema twice within a week. It is the only movie I went twice to cinema for. Although I knew roughly what the play was about the story kept me in suspense so much I still had a lump in my throat the day after I watched this movie the first time. To that day I had never been as fascinated by anything and really had to think about this tale for days to come. So it was the first time I got to witness the "whole" story and in retrospect it probably was the best version for me. It was magic.
I could identify myself with Romeo - he was like who i wanted to be - exceptionally played by DiCaprio and I fell in Love with Julia - stunningly beautiful, just everything - brilliantly played by Claire Danes. DiCaprio had already been one of my favorite actors before (and after) what I can not say about Claire Danes in general but in that role she was near perfect to me. Other stand-out performances I would like to mention are the strong characterization of Mercutio played by the best Harold Perrineau I have seen while in the part of Tybalt John Leguizamo excels himself either.
The settings and direction of this movie are plain fantastic from my point of view. Along with the contemporary interpretation of Shakespeare's genuine play Baz Luhrmann managed to create a pretty special atmosphere that feels surreal, menacing but at the same time highly appealing. Without the original lyrics used in this adaption I could imagine Romeo + Juliet to be an absolutely intoxicating flick but the dreamlike poetry propel it's atmosphere to another level.
I like movies to tell me an interesting story in the first place and showcase it the way it feels right. To this day no other movie could outreach the impact Romeo + Juliet had on me. The first Love usually is the deepest and there is nothing perfect in this world except for true Love..