Is this the dude who wrote "Macbeth"? Rhys Ifans is Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford, in "Anonymous."Columbia Pictures
With "Anonymous," director Roland Emmerich does to Elizabethan history and Shakespearean scholarship what his previous movies, "The Day After Tomorrow" and the "Godzilla" remake, did to the sciences of climate change and herpetology.
A thick and indigestible pottage populated by most of the English actors left out of "Harry Potter," this is a Bard movie for birthers, inspired by the classist theory that Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford (nicely played by Rhys Ifans), actually penned the plays attributed to Shakespeare (Rafe Spall), here presented as an oafish skirt-chaser. In fact, "Anonymous" is so Edwardcentric that it claims the Earl was not just the greatest writer in the history of the English language but the one true passion of one of England's greatest monarchs, Queen Elizabeth (Vanessa Redgrave), here presented as a love-addled ditherer, and certainly no Virgin Queen.
"Anonymous" speculates on an issue that has for centuries intrigued academics and brilliant minds ranging from Mark Twain and Charles Dickens to Henry James and ...
Rating: PG-13 for some violence and sexual content
Length: 130 minutes
Released: October 28, 2011 Limited
Cast: Xavier Samuel, Rhys Ifans, Jamie Campbell Bower, Vanessa Redgrave, David Thewlis
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: John Orloff
More "Da Vinci Code" than Burke's Peerage, the elaborate conspiracy theory constructed here -- involving incest, a conniving hunchback (Edward Hogg), and the idea that the will of "the mob" is as easy to pluck as the strings on a lute -- might have been the basis for a thrilling farce or an investigation into notions of "authorship" and the reliability of the historical record. But Emmerich's hamfisted literalness and confused multiple-flashback storytelling strategy make this his most boring film to date, and possibly his goofiest, even with the likes of Derek Jacobi and David Thewlis prowling the proscenium.
"My God -- you're writing again!" exclaims Edward's wife, distressed that her husband has again answered the disreputable call of his muse. "The voices -- I can't stop them!" explains Edward (unwittingly giving credence to one character's assertion that "plays are the work of the devil"). "My poems are my soul!"
The apparently earnest "Anonymous" is weirdly contradictory: It presents itself as an attempt to bring overdue justice to one artist by practicing character assassination on another. What's distressing about the film, however, isn't its plodding incoherence or wild-eyed credulousness but its misplaced priority: It suggests that what's most interesting about this writer we call Shakespeare is not the genius of his words but the puzzle of his identity. That's not just a bad judgment call but an indictment of a culture that often seems more devoted to scandal than to art. Yes, the play's the thing, and this one's a crock.
"Anonymous" is at the Malco Paradiso.
-- John Beifuss: (901) 529-2394
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