baz appeal

1996 OUT 12 FEBRUARY CINEMAS

From Ian McKellen’s Richard III to Kenneth Branagh’s starry, slavish adaps (Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet et al) the ‘90s was a strong decade for Shakespearean cinema. Twenty-five years on, though, it is Baz Luhrmann’s radical take on the Bard’s romantic tragedy that still soars, elevated by its bold modern setting as well as by a central coupling that perfectly embodies its star-cross’d lovers’ impetuous and youthful ardour.

True, it takes a while to accept guns as swords, Mexico City as fair Verona and a soundtrack stuffed with contemporary chart bangers (‘When Doves Cry’, ‘Young Hearts Run