| Who would produce Shakespeare as 1930s music comedy? Only Kenneth Branagh, the modern-day heir to Orson Welles, could pull it off. Love's Labors Lost (Miramax, rated PG for brief sexual and drug references) mixes two styles, setting the action in Europe on the brink of World War II. Producer/director Branagh, veteran of several Shakespearean movies, joins an ensemble cast including Alicia Silverstone, Nathan Lane, Alassandro Nivola, and Natasha McElhone, who seem to be all having a blast doing this movie. The story revolves around the King of Navarre summoning his three best friends to study philosophy with him, all the while swearing off women. The Princess of France and her entourage arrive to torpedo these plans. Throughout the movie the 16th century text is interspersed with moments of slapstick and music from the likes of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin. Lost stays light, breezy, easy to follow and treats neither the Bard nor Broadway with cynicism. For those who can accept the premise, Lost provides a sensation so often lost in modern cinema: whimsy. |
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