Yes


A modern Shakespearean tale of love, passion, and politics

Yesterday was a cultural day for us as first we went to see Bebe Neuwirth's Kurt Weill piece, "Here Lies Jenny", and then we went to a special preview screening of a new film from Sony by filmmaker Sally Potter ("Orlando") entitled, Yes.

Yes has many layers, and at its surface is notable for being written in verse. It begins subtly and takes quite a few minutes before you realize that it truly is in verse. The actors approach the script with so much quiet authenticity that the verse seems neither stilted nor false. Once you realize you are watching a verse piece other Shakespearean similarities float to the surface. The exchanges between the lovers evoke the meeting of two strong wills such as Beatrice and Benedict or Rosalind and Orlando. The hotel kitchen workers are nothing if not reminiscent of the mechanicals (lower class populace) found in many Shakespearean plays, from Falstaff's companions, to the Players in Midsummer. And its tale of star-crossed lovers from two warring factions (in this case the Muslim East vs. the West) is a bit of Romeo & Juliet, a bit from his more political histories.

But one can't really evoke Shakespeare unless one tackles the universal as well as the specific, and Yes also does explore such universal themes as:

- does love inevitably lead to betrayal...whether emotional or sexual?
- do we diminish those who we "assist"
- when worlds collide, must we be left with only rubble?
- can we ever be absolved of our sins, truly redeemed...or are we all ever-stained?

And if it's going to ring Shakespearean, then it also requires the equivalent of a soliloquy for each of the main characters:

-Sam Neill, the typical buttoned up Brit, playing air guitar with increasing abandon in his living room
-Joan Allen...compelling whether she's coming or keening
-Simon Abkarian, exuberant dancing then steely cruelty...equally believable
-Shirley Henderson, the most fascinating housekeeper you'll ever meet, delivering soliloquy after soliloquy

I will say the movie could lose about 10 minutes and would be better for it. At about the same point 10 minutes before the credits rolled you could feel the audience start to get restless. One last plot point just didn't seem necessary. And the storyline involving Allen's goddaughter seemed oddly unfinished...which stuck out in a film where all other depths were plumbed.

The film was strongly erotic in parts, gaspingly harsh in others...and mostly fascinating in its fearless modern verse style.

Of course seeing the film I understood why event host Mark Pincus had two poets from the YouthSpeaks organization perform a slam each. They were talented young poets...and I got perhaps my strongest flash of recognition when hearing the first young man talk about how his abuelita would pinch his cheeks and call him guapo when she saw him. That was my abuelita's standard greeting every Sunday. Guapa, guapa as she pinched my cheeks. One of my strongest memories of her...and a nice one.

Yes will be opening in San Francisco in early July. It's intriguing and involving...worth checking out.

Posted: Mon - June 13, 2005 at 10:29 PM       EmailFeedback

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