Highest 2 Lowest

 

Director Spike Lee

Lee with Denzel Washington

Lee's signed Kurosawa portrait

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST          B                                                                                               USA  (133 mi)  2025  ‘Scope  d: Spike Lee

All money ain’t good money.                                                                                                        —David King (Denzel Washington)

Surprisingly, there has already been a remake made of Akira Kurosawa’s overly somber neo-noir classic High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku) (1963) with Ron Morales doing a Philippino update in Graceland (2012), though Spike Lee has insisted “It’s a reinterpretation – not a remake,” like a jazz riff on a standard tune, with a title card in the closing credits that says the film was “inspired by the master, Akira Kurosawa.”  In something of an aside, Lee owns a beautiful portrait of Akira Kurosawa, which the great Japanese director signed with a paintbrush of white ink (photography has begun on Spike Lee's remake of Akira ...).  While there are stark differences between the two films, Lee uses the basic premise of the original story, an adaptation of American pulp writer Ed McBain’s crime novel King Ransom published in 1959, and then shifts the location from Japan’s Yokohama Harbor back to the Big Apple, with Lee basically having a love affair with his native city, as he makes exquisite use of locations, mirroring the documentary street realism of Kurosawa’s equally enthralling earlier film STRAY DOG (1949).  Superbly realized by cinematographer Matthew Libatique, having worked together before on four earlier films, you can feel the personal touches, changing film stocks and color grades, the use of split screens, handheld cameras, Super 8 and 16mm recordings, intentionally giving this an artistic look.  His fifth collaboration with Denzel Washington, beginning with MO’ BETTER BLUES (1990), MALCOLM X (1992), He Got Game (1998), and his first since the terrific heist movie Inside Man (2006) 19 years ago, which is still Lee’s highest grossing movie.  Washington shines in every frame of this film, fully invested in the role, bringing his bodacious energy, wickedly sly sense of humor, and captivating screen presence, very Shakespearean, to the narrative, where he’s called upon to do things in this film that turn him into a modern day action figure, yet it’s his humanity that really stands out, as every move is coldly calculated and reasoned, producing one of his best performances in years, expressing a range of emotions that aren’t on the page, exhibiting that kind of freedom and improvisation in the role, reminding us why he is held in such high esteem.  It’s not often that black people are seen in movies in this way, artistic yet accessible, giving us a cause for celebration.  The film is about the haves and have-nots, and the widening gap, while at the same time exploring greed, having a moral compass, class issues, and what it means to be a father, as Spike Lee, known for his vibrant visuals and socially conscious storytelling, brings his signature style to the film, with exquisite framing, and a screenplay written by newcomer Alan Fox that doesn’t always connect the characters together or match the rich detail of the original story (kings-ransom.pdf).  Now working in his fifth decade, Lee has an extensive filmography that includes Do the Right Thing (1989), MO’ BETTER BLUES (1990), JUNGLE FEVER (1991), MALCOLM X (1992), CROOKLYN (1994), Girl 6 (1996), 4 LITTLE GIRLS (1997), Summer of Sam (1999), 25th Hour (2002), When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2005), Inside Man (2006), Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014), Chi-Raq (2015), Blackkklansman (2018), 2020 Top Ten List #10 Da 5 Bloods, David Byrne's American Utopia (2020), yet it’s been decades since he was at the top of his game.  While this may not be that, this feels like the old-school opulence of mid-2000’s movies with some high spots that really stand out, where you feel like you’re literally immersed in New York City, with crowd scenes and back alleys that feel authentic, where we’re reminded that Do the Right Thing (1989) and 25th Hour (2002) are Lee’s best earlier films reflecting the soulful character and swaggering personality of the city, but this is a welcome addition.  This is also about how legends of black culture (including Lee and Washington) struggle to maintain their legacy in the face of such a rapidly changing, social media-obsessed world, as they’re so quickly forgotten, or intentionally erased, where the film reflects the current landscape of the erasure of record labels and the dissipating relevancy of art in general, with a rapid decline in the relevance of labels and mainstream media outlets, concluding with a killer ending that comes out of nowhere.  Movies like this simply aren’t being made anymore, but Spike Lee, a tenured professor and the Artistic Director at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film Program, a role he has held for over 30 years, still likes to kick things around and explore, often muddying the waters, getting caught up in trying to do too much, which can alter the flow of the picture, but this deeply personal film gives us a reason to return to theaters, as this is an immersive, all-encompassing experience that is simply a joy to watch, yet it’s going to be hard to find in theaters, playing in only a few venues, as it’s quickly heading for streaming platforms, distributed by A24 and Apple TV, where it will play in less than a month, though they’ve finally given the filmmaker a budget he deserves, and it shows.     

Premiering out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, the opening is a controversial move that may divide audiences, as the sweeping montage of city skyscrapers in the upscale Brooklyn neighborhood along the East River between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges is accompanied by an incongruous use of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song from the musical Oklahoma, 'Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'' | Gordon MacRae | Rodgers ... YouTube (3:00), one of the most iconic American songs to emerge from the wartime era, a song we associate with endless farmland stretching as far as the eye can see, which simply feels out of place today, even when sung by Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and SAG Award-nominated actor and singer Norm Lewis, playing out in full with no interruptions, where the song is used to much greater effect in Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s Ghostlight (2024).  Yet it mirrors other Spike Lee opening shots, like basketball players around the country practicing to the music of Aaron Copland in HE GOT GAME, He Got Game - Movie Intro YouTube (3:01), offering a sense of Americana, like the dawn of a new day, bold with a sense of cinematic tradition, with the camera zooming in on a penthouse suite of the Olympia Dumbo building, the tallest residential listing in Brooklyn, with the outdoor balcony offering sweeping vistas overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge, while the interior features floor to ceiling windows with unobstructed views of the East River, New York Harbor, and Manhattan skyline.  To live in such undisputed luxury (the super deluxe apartment is currently on the market for a cool $19.5 million dollars, See inside $19.5M Dumbo penthouse, Brooklyn's ... - 6sqft) tells us right away that this isn’t any ordinary person we’re dealing with, so the immediately recognizable lyrics of such a kitschy song actually establishes the mood, but viewers are a little thrown by it.  This spectacular shot introduces us to music mogul David King (Denzel Washington), known as King David, a man insulated by wealth and privilege, whose company Stackin’ Hits Records dominated the charts two decades ago, but he cashed out and sold the company to a soulless conglomerate years ago, and now the board is moving in a different direction, more interested in AI music, which is increasingly used to generate content, but has “no soul, no heart,” a move that would likely “squeeze every drop of black culture and integrity” out of its music catalogue, where his future with the company is less clear, despite having a mostly figurehead position as Chairman of the Board.  He’s been leveraging his penthouse and other assets to try to buy out his company before it’s taken from him, hoping he can start a new business searching out new talent, as he’s still known for having “the best ears in the business.”  In Kurosawa’s black and white film, Washington’s character is played by Toshiro Mifune, a wealthy shoe executive whose luxurious penthouse apartment sits atop a large hill offering spectacular views overlooking Yokohama Harbor, where the emphasis was on the capitalistic postwar class divide, reflected by those rich enough to afford living high above and those working stiffs living down below, showing a distinct difference between the haves and the have-nots.  In Lee’s film, it plays out much differently, where pessimism is not as central as in Kurosawa, as we’re introduced to David’s family, including his overly predictable wife Pam (Ilfenesh Hadera, who was in two earlier Spike Lee films, but has worked primarily in television, showing little emotional range), a philanthropist supporting black causes, and inquisitive teenage son Trey (Aubrey Joseph), who is a talented basketball player.  Their home is filled with sports-related memorabilia and artworks by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Frederick J. Brown, Kehinde Wiley, Deborah Roberts, Gordon Parks, Henry Taylor, and others (from Spike Lee’s own personal collection), as well as magazine covers of David’s face, and while we see he is revered at his place of business, treated like a megastar, winner of 50 Grammys, he may also be out of touch with the changing times, as his son’s listening habits are drastically different than his own, where this generational divide figures prominently, as people’s access to music is so much more readily available through social media outlets, something the father pays little attention to, while Trey is on his phone with headphones literally all the time.  The film, however, misses an opportunity, as it really glosses over the carnivorous nature of the music industry in general without offering any real insight or exploration, as it’s far more about gaining social media attention and less about the actual musical talent, where the Internet has strangely and rather humorously become a character unto itself.  

David’s luxurious Rolls Royce chauffeur Paul (Jeffrey Wright, in an expanded role from the Kurosawa film and is absolutely terrific in this film, working especially well with Denzel Washington) is like a member of the family, an ex-con who is a Muslim convert.  While they both come from hard times, Paul actually served time upstate, but he’s devoted to David, having a son Kyle (Elijah Wright, Jeffrey Wright’s real-life son) about the same age as Trey, best friends who are dropped off at a summer basketball clinic at Long Island University where practice is led by none other than former Laker Rick Fox, who gets into it about the Laker purple and gold with King’s affection for the orange and blue colors of the Knicks, the first of many sports references in the film, the best of which comes from the kids, “Michael who?”  In the 90’s, it was the Michael Jordan Gatorade commercials where everyone wanted to “Be like Mike” ORIGINAL "BE LIKE MIKE" GATORADE COMMERCIAL | NIKE ... YouTube (1:00).  While all is going well, the first misstep may be musical composer Howard Drossin’s syrupy and melodramatic score, which simply doesn’t match the hard edge of the rest of the picture, having a hard time fitting into the overall atmosphere, but at the same time, the more jazzy, piano-infused accompaniment by Scottish pianist and composer Fergus McCreadie works pretty well, Highest 2 Lowest 2025 Soundtrack | All Money Ain't Good ... YouTube (4:19).  You wouldn’t think that maudlin score would matter that much but it does, especially since the other musical choices are spot on, so there’s a lightweight aspect to what we hear, yet the weight of the complex imagery deserves better, but this is Spike Lee, where these sonic miscues can he found in most of his films, continually keeping viewers off balance.  Like a tidal wave, everything changes in an instant, matching the Kurosawa story exactly, as Trey is reported kidnapped, where the tone of the film shifts into tragic mode, with his parents completely devastated, suddenly finding their immaculate home infiltrated by and at the mercy of the police, supposedly experts in the matter, including all the latest electronic surveillance gadgetry, featuring Broadway actors John Douglas Thompson as a detective and Michael Potts as David’s confidante and business partner, both known for their work in August Wilson plays, and Color Purple actress LaChanze appearing as a detective, as the kidnapper has already announced he wants $17.5 million dollars, all in Swiss Francs (making it easier to carry around in a black Jordan brand backpack), so they all gather around waiting for the next call.  The one distraction may be Dean Winters, the Mayhem guy in the Allstate commercials, as a constantly angry and overtly racist detective, as he’s kind of played out this onscreen personality.  The detectives are overly polite with David, yet their treatment of Paul is downright hostile and accusatory, reflective of their obvious class differences.  As David and Pam see their life savings and their extravagant lifestyle suddenly in jeopardy, they are brought back down to earth, as this would ensure that he probably loses his label for good, yet there is little doubt about their willingness to pay the money to get their son back.  But just as suddenly, things change, as the kidnapper made a mistake, erroneously taking Kyle, shifting all the attention to the hot-headed Paul, who doesn’t trust the police based on his history, and he doesn’t have that kind of money.  The kidnappers want the money anyway, irrespective of what kid they have, which creates a moral conundrum.  Suddenly, David, who was so willing to dish out the cash for his own son, feels relieved of that dilemma now, like the weight of the world is off his shoulders.  But Trey encourages his father to pay, as he’d never be able to live with himself if that reluctance led to Kyle’s death, not to mention how this would play out in those obnoxiously exaggerated New York City headlines, where his future as a businessman would be over, as he’d be a living pariah, ostracized from the music business.  In ruminating over this dilemma, David retreats to his study where he talks to the portraits of deceased music legends Stevie Wonder, Aretha, James Brown, or Jimi Hendrix, and ask what would they do?  But when he shows a willingness to pay, suddenly he’s viewed as a hero, like a black saint, with the public worshipping his every move. 

Once David leaves the ivory tower, the film really takes off, as the pace accelerates when they hit the streets, moving at breakneck speed, with the money placed in a GPS traceable bag, which sets the wheels in motion, leading to the exhilarated rush of William Friedkin’s THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971), still considered the gold standard for chase sequences, but Lee really outdoes himself here, creating tense and spectacularly suspenseful scenes shot on a subway train filled with rabid Yankee fans chanting “Red Sox suck!,” much like Kurosawa filmed the money handoff aboard a speeding train, with the money dropped into the hands of young men on mopeds who repeatedly pass off the ransom money to someone else.  At the same time the police are chasing in cars on the street, but things get really dicey when they run into a Puerto Rican Day street celebration in the South Bronx, which is where the film really picks up momentum, including a Rosie Perez introduction of the incomparable Eddie Palmieri, born in the Bronx, who passed away in August at the age of 88 (Latin Jazz Pianist-Composer Eddie Palmieri, 1936–2025), where his singular presence lights up the screen in a riveting live performance with full orchestra that plays out in full, Eddie Palmieri - Puerto Rico YouTube (6:59), so this film appearance offers a tribute to his life and legacy.  The street confusion causes things to go haywire, losing track of the money, as the kidnappers somehow changed bags, creating a chaotic madness, where the mounting tension is beautifully edited with exquisite precision, rising to an almost unbearable intensity, shot by shot, accentuated by the electric dynamism of the city, literally bathing viewers in the vibrant life of New York City, which you’ve never seen like this, especially Lee’s breathtaking use of drones and the angles he uses for bridges, turning into a rousing thriller, with viewers literally brought to the edge of their seats.  Like a Black Messiah, David singlehandedly figures out who the kidnapper is by listening to some music tracks, where he recognizes the rapper’s voice from the ransom demands, who is none other than Yung Felon (A$AP Rocky), yet when he excitedly brings this information to the police, they routinely dismiss it, believing they have better leads to follow.  But David and Paul know they’ve identified the right guy, so they venture out on their own, which is the biggest difference from the Kurosawa film, where the police meticulously go after the kidnapper, who remains an elusive figure that we really never get to know, as opposed to here where he is prominently featured, heading into a gorgeously choreographed labyrinth sequence into the bowels of the “hood,” just ramping up the suspense, brilliantly set to the funky music of James Brown, no less, The Payback YouTube (7:38).  It’s just a thrilling sequence, first finding the kidnapper’s girlfriend Marisol (the debut of Bronx-born Ice Spice), who refers them to the recording studio, where the song is what the roughed-up but safely-released Kyle remembers hearing in captivity, over and over again, like a stream of conscious dream, where it plays out onscreen like a music video, Trunks (From "Highest 2 Lowest") YouTube (3:43).  When they finally meet face to face, it’s like a battle rap showdown, each excelling while attempting to one-up the other, with David really holding his own against this young gun, with rhymes that carry a Shakespearean seriousness, while Rocky counters with youthful rage, believing “Attention is the only currency.”  The ferocious voice of a new generation of black musicians is eager to dethrone his predecessors by any means necessary, including shaking down the old guard if that’s what it takes to finally get what’s due.  But we discover it’s about more than music, as what this young rapper really wants is a father figure, a mentor, as he spent years idolizing David, unleashing his pent-up anger when that relationship never materializes.  It’s all mano a mano, one on one, but the real question is art versus commerce, as you can’t put a price on great art (Kurosawa), which has the ability to move people, have an enduring impact on the culture, and stand the test of time, as opposed to the business of making money (the Hollywood model), where “All money ain’t good money.”  It’s superlative filmmaking, gaining gravitas as the film progresses, leading to some of the most satisfying time spent in a theater all year, where it’s just a gas to experience it, knowing nothing ahead of time except the Kurosawa model, but this changes direction and moves into unfamiliar territory near the end, exactly as the Kurosawa film does, and while it may not have the same cinematic mystique as the original, it’s just dripping with entertainment, becoming the best reason to see it in a theater and not some streaming platform.  The finale is another killer sequence, this time featuring a rising star named Sula, beautifully voiced by Aiyana-Lee, Highest 2 Lowest 2025 Soundtrack | Highest 2 Lowest ... YouTube (3:35), granddaughter of the legendary Motown and Temptations lead singer Jimmy Ruffin, where her exquisite performance taps into raw emotion in just a stellar sendoff.

2022 Top Ten List #5 The Tragedy of Macbeth

 

Director Joel Coen

Joel Coen and Frances McDormand

Denzel Washington with McDormand and Coen

Frances McDormand with Denzel Washington

Director Joel Coen on the set with Frances McDormand

Coen on the set with Kathryn Hunter

Coen on the set with Hunter and Bruno Delbonnel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH                 A                                                                            USA  (105 mi)  2021  d: Joel Coen

Men are probably nearer to the essential truth in their superstitions than in their science.         —Henry David Thoreau, Journal entry June 27, 1852 

According to Joel Coen at the New York Film Festival premiere, “Of all the heterosexual relationships in Shakespeare there are a lot of good ones, but there’s only really one good marriage.  And that’s the marriage of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.  They happen to be plotting to kill someone, but the marriage is good.”  Shakespeare’s Macbeth is his shortest tragedy and his most fatalistic play, exuding an excess of blood and carnage, filled with murder, foul play, and a grim atmosphere of doom in the air, adapted into more than 25 different movies since 1908, though easily the standouts are Orson Welles’ minimalistic 1948 version that is stripped down and heavy on the visuals, creating a picture of austerity, fog-laden and barren, with macabre overtones, coming after his all-black theatrical production in 1936 entitled Voodoo Macbeth, moving the setting from Scotland to a fictional Caribbean island, much like Paul Robeson doing Eugene O’Neill’s one-act play in The Emperor Jones (1933),  This was followed by Kurosawa’s THRONE OF BLOOD (1957), which may be the most successful film version, though it departs from the specifics of the play, told through a cultural shift into Noh theater, which elevates the egoistic qualities of Macbeth, forever losing himself in misty forests shrouded in fog, believing he is invincible due to the witches’ prophecy, even while the world around him turns into utter chaos, falling into a devastating picture of existential turmoil, with everyone around him trying to save themselves, subject to an incessant volley of arrows that eventually leads to his doom.  Roman Polanski’s MACBETH (1971), filmed in the aftermath of the gruesome Sharon Tate murder by the Charles Manson gang, is one of the darker and bloodier adaptations, seemingly shot in the mud of the medieval age, accentuating nudity and grotesque violence, while Béla Tarr’s made-for-television MACBETH (1983) consisted of only two lengthy shots, the first shot (before the main title) is five minutes long, the second 67 minutes long, streamlined to only 72-minutes, while more recently Justin Kurzel’s MACBETH (2015) featured big named stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in an arthouse version that seemed to accentuate a bloodbath on the battlefield, receiving critical praise, but was a dud at the box office, so few actually saw it.  Joel Coen’s rendition resembles the austerity of Welles, but the mindset of Kurosawa, a film that brings the illusory nature of power into even sharper focus, using theatrical devices, like a direct address or asides to the audience, and veterans of the Royal Shakespeare Company, leading to an exquisitely filmed black and white version by French cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, with so much of the film shot in shadows, compressed in size to the boxed-in 4:3 aspect ratio which only escalates the psychological dilemma of enveloping claustrophobia, with Stefan Dechant’s minimalist production design which is nothing less than stunning, an ominous and simply extraordinary sound design by Craig Burkey, and an equally phenomenal musical score by Carter Burwell.  All these things add to a uniquely compelling cinematic version of one of the best Shakespeare plays, certainly his darkest and gloomiest, yet the experience is positively exhilarating from start to finish, sure to be studied by film schools in the future.  Certainly one of the things that stands out is the exactness of the opening title sequence, in perfect precision with the music, much like Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) title sequence - YouTube (1:58).  Starring Denzel Washington as a calmer and more reflective Macbeth, known for his military exploits, yet remains surprisingly indecisive, where it’s not often this actor plays a deranged killer, a marked difference when it comes to an appeal to our sympathies, and Frances McDormand as his conniving Lady Macbeth, basically serving as Iago to her husband, planting the seeds of evil, yet the old world 17th century language of the play may actually be the weakest element, as the stunning visual presentation marks this as one for the ages, using a highly stylized aesthetic that is an altogether different look for the Coens.  Curiously, in the very first Coen brother film, Blood Simple (1984), starring a very young Frances McDormand at age 27, a murder was committed, but much like this film, trying to wipe it away becomes one’s worst nightmare, as it only aggravates the deepening torment building inside.  The essence of Macbeth may be captured in the words of 19th century American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, “Men are probably nearer to the essential truth in their superstitions than in their science.”  One only needs to evaluate the transformation of the American Republican Party into rabid delusions and conspiracy theories under Trump, where appearance represents the new reality, a tweet, a catchy phrase, a sound bite for television, which can rapidly spread to mean just about anything in the minds of the listener, hearing only what they want to hear, thus becoming a rallying cry for freedom.  Similarly, the character of Macbeth is transformed by witchcraft, as early in the play a witches’ prophecy leads Macbeth to believe he will become King of Scotland, yet how this plays out in his mind becomes the emphasis of the storyline, resorting to a notorious sleepwalking scene, hallucinations, and murderous delusions of grandeur, where the imagination of the protagonist runs wild, providing chilling testimony to the moral limits, or lack thereof, of the human condition, which must have frightened the playwright when conceiving the story, and should terrify any audience witnessing the play, as it similarly relies upon the horror of our imaginations, where the full effects of the tragedy is how it plays out in our own minds.  

The first Coen brother film to be directed without the other brother’s involvement, having a limited theatrical release prior to streaming on Apple TV+, shot entirely on sound stages, it evokes the murky netherworld atmosphere of Dreyer’s VAMPYR (1932).  Unlike other Shakespeare villainous protagonists like Richard III, Iago, or Edmund, who all delight in their own wickedness, Macbeth broods in his own suffering, knowing what he does is evil, and that the future will bring even worse.  It takes a certain audacity to write a tragedy around a murderer and tyrant, who initially seems so different than any of the rest of us, yet like Hamlet, Macbeth dominates the play, where there is nowhere else to turn, with viewers literally consumed by the vile contamination of his character.  Lady Macbeth has her own villainous ambitions, and is a co-conspirator in his murders, yet she is killed off early in the final Act, leaving Macbeth alone to wreak havoc until the tragic finale, both unable to wipe the blood from their hands, both literally and figuratively, surrounded only by secondary characters who are never individualized, leaving viewers feeling complicit in his foul deeds, sharing the same space together, joined in spirit, sullied by the same treachery.  Macbeth is a companion piece to Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, each a prolonged nightmare lifted into the realm of art, as in each the protagonist is hounded by their own guilt, and the ripple effect it has even within our own collective souls, becoming studies of evil through murder.  Perhaps it’s appropriate, then, that the shocking opening of this film is a percussive strike, like turning on a light switch, followed by a quick shift to a white screen, a sign of innocence, held for some length, before ravens begin to swoop and circle overhead, diving in and out of the clouds, resembling the Dementors in Harry Potter lore.  Stripped of everything but the essentials, this is abstract, modernist theater, where Macbeth’s castle has tall rectangles and arches, with strong diagonals, and an open ceiling high above with a bird’s eye view weighing down on the characters below, providing an oppressive look that at times resembles Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS (1927), where the stage is a mere outline, more suggestive than real, a visual construction that challenges viewers to look at the film differently, providing texture rather than a built set, allowing the minds of viewers to fill in the rest.  Nowhere is this more apparent than in the witches’ sequence, which may as well be taking place on the surface of the moon, as it’s a white, sandy surface with no vegetation anywhere in sight, shrouded in a white mist, with all three witches played by Kathryn Hunter, looking thin and ghoulish, more like an apparition than real, a lone figure standing before a water pond, generating two shadows, blending two voices that merge into three, issuing her prophecy to Macbeth and Banquo (Bertie Carvel), returning victors in war, proclaiming that someday Macbeth will be King, yet Banquo will father a line of kings.  This entire sequence resembles a dream, or a hallucination, yet both men are clearly affected by what they hear, felt to the core like a Biblical proclamation, where there is little doubt it will come true.  As they are welcomed back by King Duncan (Brandon Gleeson), the traitorous Thane of Cawdor is executed, with Macbeth assuming his title, with the King naming his own son Malcolm (Henry Melling) as Prince, which irks Macbeth, blocking his line of ascension to the throne.  When Duncan spends the night at Macbeth’s castle, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth conjure a deadly plan to hasten his ascension, believing their cause is just, as they’re only following the prophecy, yet in their haste, they fail to consider alternative meanings, hearing only a partial truth, taking the words literally, willfully deceiving themselves in their zealous rush to power, a fatal mistake.  Lady Macbeth drugs the guards, allowing free entry for Macbeth, who has a lengthy soliloquy summoning his courage, filled with existential torment, drawing inspiration from the image of a dagger leading to the King’s chambers, as if guiding him to his destiny, with day turning into night in a single shot.  Even afterwards when Lady Macbeth grows frustrated at what he failed to do, she is forced to return to the scene of the crime, placing bloody daggers in the hands of the inert guards.  Both are plagued by visions of blood afterwards.  Thinking it is one thing, but carrying it out is another matter, as the act of murder carries consequences not easily forgotten.  At dawn, Macduff (Corey Hawkins) discovers the body, with Macbeth murdering the disoriented guards, claiming they are to blame for the betrayal of the King.  In the chaos that ensues, Malcolm and Duncan’s two sons escape to England, and later Macduff, while Macbeth assumes the throne as the new King of Scotland.  However, the fact that those who fled miraculously survived is the stuff of Macbeth’s nightmares, which to a large extent sets the tone for the film.  No one else in Shakespeare is so entirely engulfed in the occult, with the witches seemingly drawn to him, playfully preoccupied by his overly susceptible mindset, as if toying with him for their own amusement, often disguising themselves or changing shapes to widen their influence.  His propensity for psychic visions, however, has a drastic effect on the audience, overwhelmed, perhaps, by how weakly he resists their supernatural influence, instead embracing them fully, something that might cause a reasonable man to hesitate. 

Aware of the prophecy, Banquo also tries to escape, but is murdered by thugs hired by Macbeth, while Fleance, Banquo’s son, is strangely allowed to escape by Ross (Alex Hassell), also known as the Third Murderer, supposedly an ally of Macbeth (though in some versions this role was reserved for Macbeth himself, in disguise), yet he cleverly exhibits ulterior motives, a role figuring more prominently in this version.  What follows is an intense scrutiny of the deep recesses of the subconscious, climbing through a labyrinthian maze of illusions and dreams, where an enveloping darkness pervades every aspect of what we see, often shot at odd angles to accentuate the degree of irrationality.  Both Macbeth and his wife fall into psychological turmoil for what they’ve done, with Macbeth the first to grow delirious at a royal dinner, imagining seeing the ghost of Banquo, fighting him off before the invited guests, who see nothing but a King stark raving mad, like Don Quixote tilting at windmills, apparently seeing things that aren’t there, like fending off a menacing raven, with Lady Macbeth opening the window allowing the raven to escape.  Embarrassed by what she sees, Lady Macbeth dismisses the guests while sedating her husband, yet rather than having a calming effect, Macbeth is visited by witches in the rafters, conjuring up visions of Fleance offering warning signs to beware Macduff, proclaiming he will be King until Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane, and that he shall be harmed by no man born of a woman.  Macbeth is Shakespeare’s most internalized drama, where the character is a rush of nervous irritability veering towards a heart of darkness, confronting unknown realms where fears rush in, filled with hysterical passion, where the thunderous pounding at the door, and the tolling of the bell, seem to anticipate anxiety and dread, as if summoned from the depths of the subconscious, using a German Expressionist look to exemplify his growing anguish.  The stylishness of the film is a stark contrast between black and white, where the geometric design of the castle reveals a cold interior, haunted by the shadowy nature of the figures seen, with exaggerated flourishes that exacerbate the forbidding nature of what we see.  What makes this so cinematic is that Macbeth is a visionary drama, where the protagonist views himself as an involuntary seer, viewed almost through the occult, fully open to the mischievously playful spirits of A Midsummer Night’s Dream or The Tempest, where the blurring of identity through fantasy takes on a different persona.  Lady Macbeth, for instance, is considerably more enterprising than her husband, yet she falls into a psychic decline, where their monstrous ambitions to the throne seem grotesquely inadequate, made worse by having no child to inherit the throne, as what led them to believe they in any way deserved the crown?  What in either one of them ever pondered a single thought about serving or benefiting others?  The narrowness of their vision couldn’t be more unwavering and absolute, thinking only of themselves, and be damned of all others.  In the play, their lust for the throne is mirrored by their sexual desire, becoming one and the same, though the older age of the actors may explain their understated, more world-weary approach, both in their mid-60’s (by comparison, Welles was 33 as Macbeth, his Lady Macbeth was 37, in Kurosawa, Macbeth was 36, his Lady Macbeth was 39, while in the Polanski version, Macbeth was 28, his Lady Macbeth was 26), deflecting the sexual aspect and instead focusing on being childless, which seems to be an emotional fissure between them, still grieving over a lost child, where the crown instead of an heir will be their final legacy, actually changing the order of some of the dialogue to accentuate this heartbreak, yet it is lust just the same, even as it evolves into a lust for blood.  The royal couple falls apart once he ascends to the throne, while she angrily makes references to his deteriorating interest, which leads to a futile sense of personal exasperation, seen sleepwalking at night, where she lays open her guilty conscience, leaving servants astonished and appalled.  Of all of Shakespeare’s protagonists, Macbeth exhibits the least amount of free will, drifting passively along on a perilous wave of fate, where his invincibility, determined by the witches’ prophecy, makes him do the things he does, murdering all his rivals to the throne, none more brutal than Macduff’s wife and children, yet somehow believing that’s in his best interest.  Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is the personification of free will, that is until she cracks, leaving him suffocating in the void of his own emptiness, Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow - Scene from The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) YouTube (1:01).  Her collapse only makes him more paranoid and fearful, sapping him of all his strength, no longer able to distinguish illusion from reality, losing himself in his own murderous delirium.  The darkest Shakespearean design is the economy of this work, where Macbeth’s fall comes quickly, with much of the action taking place at night, where Macbeth turns into a visionary maniac, obsessed, it seems, by the surrounding disharmony of the universe, eventually forfeiting his humanity, as the film progresses towards its catastrophic conclusion.  Part of the ultimate terror is realizing just how rapidly Macbeth succumbs to his own delusions, with the film racing towards its inevitable finale, jumpstarted here with Hitchcockian aplomb by opening that castle window, with all the leaves of Birnam Wood flying in with an apocalyptic force.  Seemingly sucking all the air out of the room, more and more he seems to lose all cognitive powers, blinded by his venomous ambition, leaving him numb to the winds of fate, which take him where they may, leaving him a shell of his former self.  When Ross reveals the news of his family to Macduff, he grows so incensed in anger that he demands retribution for the crime, joining forces with Malcolm in leading English forces against the tyrannical despot, with Macduff declaring he is not born of a woman but instead “untimely ripped,” fulfilling the prophecy, taking us down that final descent into Hell, completely in simpatico with Colonel Kurtz at the end of APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), with a massive flock of screeching birds entirely blocking off the light, quickly darkening the screen to black.