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The Movie: One of the hottest things to do in Hollywood right now is to take a Shakespeare play and update it for modern audiences. After all what else can you do when all the truly original stories have been told but take classic stories and retell them. Shakespeare never really interested me throughout my high school years as I found it hard to understand his plays due to the differences in our present day English and the English of Shakespeare's time. During 9th grade I did work on the crew of A Midsummer's Nights Dream a play that our theater department was presenting. By attending hours upon hours of rehearsal I was able to somewhat understand the comedy. If my school Shakespeare experience was anything like the typical one there are many teens and young adults who don't what they are missing out on. Luckily most kids have some sort of Shakespearean experience indirectly via modern teenage films. Some films use Shakespeare as a basis for their story but stray far from the original text while others remain true to the source material. Some of these films I have liked and some I haven't. The one that comes to mind here is Baz Lurhmann's 1996 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. In that film Lurhmann (director of this summer's Moulin Rouge) took the tale of two star crossed levels and set it in modern times but kept the original text of the play. I don't know what it was but that film didn't register with me at all. On the other hand teen comedies like Get Over It and 10 Things I Hate About You which only borrowed loosely from their original tales (Midsummer Night's Dream and The Taming of the Shrew respectively) entertained me immensely. I guess that means I enjoy a somewhat revised Shakespeare story. "O" is the story of Odin James (Mekhi Phifer) a star basketball player at an private school in the southern United States. He's also the only African American student at the institution. He has a smart and lovely girlfriend Desi (Julia Stiles) and is well liked by many of his teammates. His main rival is Hugo (Josh Hartnett) another student and basketball player who feels that he isn't getting enough playing time with Odin on the team. Hugo's father is the coach of the basketball team and even loves Odin like his own son. Hugo wants to exact his revenge on Odin badly and enlists the help of the love scorn Roger (Elden Henson) who is interested in gaining Desi's affections. All the while Odin is extremely jealous of the amount of time his teammate and friend Michael (Andrew Keegan) spends with Desi. Odin even believes that she may be cheating on him. Hugo with the help of his imaginative mind manages to manipulate the players with great ease and soon Odin is sure that Michael is doing more then just hanging out with Desi. Desi for the most part is unaware of what is truly going on and is only a pawn in Hugo's game. Tempers flare as things get further and further out of control leading to a powerful conclusion. "O" was originally shot back in 1998 and was to be distributed by Miramax films around the time of the tragic incident at Columbine. An incident where two students opened fire on their classmates which resulted in numerous deaths and many life altering injuries. Due to this incident and sensitive political timing the film's release was delayed. However since the original April 1999 date this film has had several dates all which came and passed without the film seeing the screen. It was becoming clear that Miramax who once was behind the film was again scared of releasing a controversial film. Miramax, the studio that behind Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction as well as the highly controversial film Priest was worried about potential backlash from protestors concerned with the violence and sexual content in the film. So in April of 2001 Canadian based distributor Lions Gate Films purchased the rights to "O" much like they did with Kevin Smith's Dogma another film that Miramax had issues with releasing. Although it seems like Harvey and Bob Weinstein the heads of Miramax were behind both films the problems are due to the corporate structure of the company of which the Disney group is at the top of. Disney has an image to maintain and these films simply didn't fall within the tighter limits they have as a more family based company. I don't blame Miramax for not releasing this film when they originally planned as it would have been the correct thing to do. I do however wish they had been able to either release or sell this film off sooner so that the public didn't have to wait to see it. But alas what is done is done and now the film has been released. "O" features a who's who of young Hollywood talent. When this film was shot none of the principal actors had huge profiles in Hollywood like they do today. In a way the delay in releasing this film could be a good thing as it can now attract a wider audience based on young people's familiarity with the cast. Julia Stiles who broke out in last winters surprise hit Save the Last Dance is excellent here as Desi, the smart rich girl who is loyal to a fault but can give off the wrong impression. Julia shows here that even at a young age she was capable of giving a powerful performance. Shades of her role in Save the Last Dance are present but I felt that her small role in this picture shows a greater range. Mekhi Phifer who perhaps was the biggest name in the cast during initial filming gives a jaw dropping performance that puts anything this actor has done to shame. Mekhi's range of emotions from his love for Desi at the beginning to his pure hatred in the end is just so amazing that I felt his pain and longing reach deep into me. For such a newcomer to film to be able to portray such a deep and misunderstood character so well proves to me there is some young talent out there and that the world is not overrun by a bunch of Freddie Prinze Jr type actors who look good but lack any real acting abilities. Josh Harnett who was excellent in Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides shows once again the side of him I like. Josh like Mekhi gives the viewer a performance that takes them inside his mind enabling them to truly feel for the character something Josh was unable to do in this summer's action blockbuster Pearl Harbor. With these two early performances from Hartnett it makes me wonder how good this kid will get. Andrew Keegan who is best known for his guest starring appearances on TV's 7th Heaven gives a good supporting performance here as does ex Mighty Duck Elden Henson. With a cast like this made up of some of Hollywood's hottest young talent it makes "O" a pure pleasure and delight to watch and to me it's no surprise that super star casting director Avy Kaufman cast this film. Avy is one of the best casting directors in Hollywood today bar none and truly knows how to cast a film correctly. One of the major issues surrounding this film is it's violent nature. The film does deal with some adult themes and finds itself with an "R" rating in the US. While I have seen many violent films during my years as a movie fan there hasn't been a film with violence that has truly affected me the way this film did. Sure this film isn't an action movie and I would classify this film as a drama so it's not overly violent at all. However the way the violence is handled is very real and sent chills down my spine. I've never been overly sensitive to violence in film and aside from a few movies I take most violence in films to be of a comic or unreal nature. That is not the case with this film. The violent events that occur in this film are unsettling and do bring back haunting memories of hearing about school shootings. I was fortunate that nothing ever happened at my school but there is no reason why these type of incidents should ever happen anywhere period. Kids are supposed to feel safe at school and shouldn't have to worry about their lives every time they enter a school building. We don't live in a perfect world and some kids for whatever reasons feel the need to commit these acts of violence. It's truly a sad state of affairs. Parents and other people may feel the need to protest this film claiming that it glorifies violence in a school setting. I understand why they might feel that way but that's not what the film is doing. In a time where American elected officials are asking Hollywood to police itself this controversial film is made. To see this picture as part of a problem is to be blind to it's true objectives. This film is part of a solution that I only hope can be reached before the lives of more innocent people are taken. This film should be a must see for anyone in their teenage years. Parents should take their children to the film and discuss it with them after words. Parents and kids alike can learn from this film and it really should be seen. Director Tim Blake Nelson works off a script by MadTV scribe Brad Kaaya based on the play Othello by William Shakespeare. Brad's script remains true to the original while setting the story in a time more relatable to modern audiences. While it doesn't quote the Shakespeare play verbatim some of the original dialogue is used and it works quite well. Sure there are problems with some of the vents being realistic but that can be traced back to original material. Tim and Brad have managed to craft one of the best and most important films aimed at teenagers I have ever seen. As some who is just past his teen years I'm insulted with the quality of films aimed at that age group. There have been some exceptions but for the most part the stories lack any real substance and are really quite insulting to anyone with any smarts at all. "O" deals with hatred and jealousy in a deep and disturbing way. There is no sugar coating here. There will be times that you will shocked and appalled at how the characters treat each other. It's not easy to sit through but it's important that you do. Perhaps if a enough people see this film then we won't have to read about another school shooting. I urge everyone to go see this movie and bring your kids. "O" is one of the most important films released in the last 3 years that a teenager could view. I applaud Lions Gate for acquiring and releasing this film some 3 years after it was originally produced. I only wish it could have been seen sooner. "O" is a magnificent piece of work and one of the years finest films. Reviewed September 3 by Mark McLeod |