Romeo + Juliet

02.14.10
Romeo + Juliet
(1996)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes


Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet is a bizarre, whimsical, and enchanting film. His innovative perspective as a director somehow managed to successfully integrate modern-day society and the classical verbiage of Shakespeare without making a mockery of the romantic masterpiece. Romeo is played by the handsome up and coming actor (at the time) Leonardo Dicaprio and Juliet by Claire Danes. Luhrman creates a “fair Verona” all of his own by distorting the original story setting like that of an abstract painting. Taking cues from an original work, yet making something distinctly unique. The use of guns instead of swords and the multicultural mix of characters brings an aspect never seen in the Shakespearean version. Baz integrated many of his own visual interpretations of the film, like his multifaceted use of water throughout the story. This is shown through Romeo and Juliet meeting through a fish tank and later falling into the pool. Many of the stylistic themes that appear in this film later surface in Luhrman’s later work of Moulin Rouge. Moulin Rouge uses many of the techniques seen in this film, such as sped up frames and oversaturation of color. Romeo + Juliet is a feat of 1990’s film born from the unique and abstracted vision of a revolutionary filmmaker that will continue to be a cult classic for many generations of Shakespeare lovers to come.