Francesca Hayward's Juliet is absolutely beautiful. She's adapted the role from the stage production to the big screen in a way that other ballerinas with more years behind them would struggle to do. All of the RB's dancers did very well in a heritage piece for the company and should be proud.
However:
All of the shots are really badly blocked and framed. People in the courtyard and Capulet ball scenes were consistently walking in front of the camera and across the shot, with the iconic balcony & bedroom pas de deuxs being obstructed by plants and curtains. Not to mention the fountain directly in the middle of one of the courtyard scenes that was shown about 20 times for no particular reason. In a regular film, this would be bad, but with dancers it works even less due to their lower bodies being constantly cut off. The genius subtleties of Kenneth Macmillan's choreography (e.g., Juliet's bourrées around the Nurse in the scene where she first meets Paris that are echoed just before she decides to drink poison) are lost imo.
The bad blocking is most evident at the beginning when the Capulet & Montague boys fight. It's hard to describe if you haven't seen the stage production, but onstage it works perfectly and the first sword fight scene leaves you in awe - but since basic rules of cinematography aren't followed throughout, the scene becomes cramped and messy so you have no sense of anybody's location. What's supposed to be a peak moment of the ballet seems confusing and small-scale when it should be grandiose. It's a similar problem with the Capulet ball scene.
I understand why this filming style was chosen. R&J Beyond Words is meant to look realistic. Unfortunately, it hinders the choreography and just comes off more peeping Tom.
I hope that Balletboyz continue to make more ballets into films. R&J was a solid attempt that still works because the combo of talented dancers and classic stories can't really fail. I think film cinematographers and people that specialise in translating choreography to film are needed.
However:
All of the shots are really badly blocked and framed. People in the courtyard and Capulet ball scenes were consistently walking in front of the camera and across the shot, with the iconic balcony & bedroom pas de deuxs being obstructed by plants and curtains. Not to mention the fountain directly in the middle of one of the courtyard scenes that was shown about 20 times for no particular reason. In a regular film, this would be bad, but with dancers it works even less due to their lower bodies being constantly cut off. The genius subtleties of Kenneth Macmillan's choreography (e.g., Juliet's bourrées around the Nurse in the scene where she first meets Paris that are echoed just before she decides to drink poison) are lost imo.
The bad blocking is most evident at the beginning when the Capulet & Montague boys fight. It's hard to describe if you haven't seen the stage production, but onstage it works perfectly and the first sword fight scene leaves you in awe - but since basic rules of cinematography aren't followed throughout, the scene becomes cramped and messy so you have no sense of anybody's location. What's supposed to be a peak moment of the ballet seems confusing and small-scale when it should be grandiose. It's a similar problem with the Capulet ball scene.
I understand why this filming style was chosen. R&J Beyond Words is meant to look realistic. Unfortunately, it hinders the choreography and just comes off more peeping Tom.
I hope that Balletboyz continue to make more ballets into films. R&J was a solid attempt that still works because the combo of talented dancers and classic stories can't really fail. I think film cinematographers and people that specialise in translating choreography to film are needed.
