A modern-day movie adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. The new version takes place in present-day Hollywood where fantasy and reality collide. It’s set in a w...
The beauty of William Shakespeare’s plays is their malleability to interpretation. Even the highest of the literati recognize that Shakespeare wrote for the multitudes, not just high class or lower born. As such, his plays contain a timeliness, enabling them to be reconstituted in a variety of forms. In 1996, Baz Luhrmann gave us the feverish "Romeo + Juliet", translating the city of Verona and its citizens to the hybrid streets of Miami, Florida, Mexico City, Mexico, and Boca del Rio, Veracruz; 1999 saw director Julie Taymor recreate the incredible violence of "Titus Andronicius" in an experimental format wherein the play is presented as a fantastical adventure; and there’s Joss Whedon transforming Messina, Italy, to fit within the bounds of his Santa Monica, California, home for his quiet interpretation of "Much Ado About Nothing". Putting his own spin on one of Shakespeare’s earliest works, writer/director Casey Wilder Mott (producer of "Hot Summer Nights") reimagines "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", a tale of love-lost and love-regained, in a strictly modern view, updating not just the look of the beloved play, but the characters themselves. Though the idea itself is nothing new, Mott’s execution in adapting "Midsummer" is sublime, quite nearly guaranteeing giggles from all who observe it.
Full review: https://elementsofmadness.com/2018/07/27/midsummer-2018/
