Elsinore

TIFF Film #16

It's become cheap criticism, in my opinion, to call something Oscar bait just because it features a dramatic performance from a large actor and is dealing with subject matter that is often quite heavy. However, Elsinore feels like it is primed for the criticism of Oscar bait.

It's hard not to be emotionally moved when you have Andrew Scott, one of the greatest working actors, delivering lines from Hamlet set amidst the backdrop of the AIDS crisis. You have to be completely stone-cold inside for that not to affect you. However, I didn't find myself as emotionally moved by this as I wanted, partially because of what I think is the primary issue with this movie, its editing.

For a movie with such fascinating subject matter. This actor who, despite his disease, craves to be on the stage playing the greatest role in theatre, in a show that has themes primed to be explored as a parallel to his life. It doesn't seek to interrogate him all that much past this idea that the theatre is the love of his life, that acting is his true love.

This film falls into standard biopic affairs, where it's a recount of events, but never did I feel like I was emotionally tied to them. A third of the film is Andrew Scott performing Hamlet, which is compelling to watch simply because you're watching Shakespeare. A lot of the film though, operates as a montage which deflates all of the emotional resonance that this film could have. These sequences of Hamlet are not particularly moving as they are edited so quickly.

When we get respite out of these montage scenes, the scenes that we get feel so surface-level with the other characters. Billie Piper plays his best friend, but I never felt the closeness of their relationship past the chemistry that the pair have together. It felt like we just had scenes with random people, but the relationship shown between that person and Andrew Scott doesn't feel complex or interesting.

These montages sap the life out of the movie. Particularly a montage towards the end, which is really trying to get you to cry. The actual cuts within that edit were kind of appalling. It doesn't help that the movie is flat, grey, and lifeless to look at as well, making it both visually and narratively uninteresting. And dare I say, I think Andrew Scott's performance is fine. Again, when he is delivering Shakespeare, it's wonderful. I think everything outside of that, though, is serviceable to the film that he is in, but never was I really rocked by his performance. I'm clearly in the minority with this. Glad people are enjoying it, but this to me felt like it was concocted purely for award season.