The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, August 31-September 6
Hamlet (1996)
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
The most loyal adaptation of the Bard’s most famous play (this side of Romeo and Juliet) is a four-hour masterpiece shot in 65mm with the participation in bit parts of actors like Robin Williams, Judi Dench, Billy Crystal and Gérard Depardieu, among many other stars directed precisely to give performances that don’t get dwarfed compared to the pure Shakespearean power of Kenneth Branagh. The width of the screen isn’t used to present big landscapes or action setpieces, but rather to give breathing room to the philosophical anxieties that unfurl across the play’s tremendous length. There aren’t many close-ups: Branagh places small characters in wide shots, giving every scene a spiritual resonance. Jaime Grijalba (September 2, 3, 7pm; September 4, 2pm at the Museum of the Moving Image’s “See It Big!: The 70mm Show”)
