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Plays Fri-Thurs Sept 5-11 at the Grand Illusion.
Revenger's Tragedy, the new film from Alex Cox, is a minor failure, but it may be one of the most worthwhile failures you will see this year. Like Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, it aims to give a classic work a prominent kink--in this case, Thomas Middleton's 1607 play, The Revenger's Tragedy--and much like Luhrmann's bastardization of the Bard, the results are equal parts inspired and maddening. In short, it is Middleton meets Straight to Hell--a glorious mess of a picture blessed with an element missing from so many films this dry summer season. That element: a creative mind at the helm.
The film opens with a dash of foreboding via an ancient Chinese proverb: "Let the man who seeks revenge remember to dig two graves." Needless to say, between this line and the film's moniker, things will not turn out well for the picture's hero. Said hero is Vindici (Christopher Eccleston), a nobleman out for the revenge of the title. The setting is Liverpool, England (a blemish of a city ravaged by an apocalypse), the year 2011, and Vindici has returned from exile, out to kill the man who murdered his wife. That man, the Duke (Derek Jacobi), rules Liverpool with a rather plump fist; the father of a gaggle of sons, chief among them Lussurioso (smartly played by Eddie Izzard), the Duke gives his seed free reign--à la Uday and Qusay--over the city.
Arriving on board a city bus, Vindici finds a city in peak chaos, as his bus crashes to a halt against a burned-out car, and inside the bus all the passengers, save himself, have been murdered (just by who is left up to us viewers to decide, but judging by the nickel-sized wound in the forehead of the still-behind-the-wheel driver, chances are it wasn't our hero behind it). Most people, of course, would find such an arrival somewhat disturbing, but not Vindici. Unflustered, he kicks himself out of the bus and begins to storm the city streets, producing an electric shaver and giving his locks a severe trim as he strides. At first glance, such an action reads as pure absurdity, but Cox is merely being efficient here; Vindici needs to disguise himself and Cox, who has rarely chosen to muddy himself with film's conventions, has decided to dispose with the transformation as quickly as possible. Such efficiency again appears moments later, when Vindici--who is still grooming--is confronted by a pack of street thugs who demand to know, perplexingly, if he is "a Cockney." Vindici's response: to silently pummel the ruffians, then coolly continue on his way. The message: Things are going to get ugly--or uglier--in 2011 Liverpool.
This, as it turns out, is a bit of an understatement, for before Revenger's Tragedy has ended, three families have pretty well been destroyed, sons have slept with mothers, and Middleton's classic text has been thoroughly violated by Cox's punk sensibilities. Essentially a simple tale of revenge, the goosing Cox gives Middleton's Revenger's Tragedy is a surprisingly fitting one, and although the film often seems overburdened by the heavy text (and underfunded by its financers), Cox's talent, along with his cast (especially Eccleston, who has a face that's always scared the hell out of me), offers enough kick to breathe new life into Middleton. It is not a film for everyone, to be sure, but for those of us who believe Repo Man is sheer brilliance, and that Straight to Hell is a wonderful, compulsively watchable disaster, the arrival of Revenger's Tragedy is cause for celebration.
Director Alex Cox and actor Eddie Izzard are scheduled to attend two screenings of Revenger's Tragedy. See Stranger Suggests on page 23 for more details.
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