A strong young cast puts "Othello" update "O" at the top of the list of recentteen Shakespeare adaptations - no small feat for a film that almost didn't make it to theaters.
Mekhi Phifer is Odin "O" James (Othello), the star athlete and sole black student in an exclusivesouthern boarding school. O has won the affection of everyone in the school, especially his girlfriend Desi (Julia Stiles) and basketball coach Duke Goulding (Martin Sheen). Duke glorifies O and ignores his own son, Hugo (Josh Hartnett), whose burning jealousy morphs into psychosis as he devises a plan for O's demise.
Palmetto Grove, the fictional Charleston, S.C.,private school of "O,"is a plausible change from Venice and Cyprus, where Shakespeare's "Othello" took place. O has kept his relationship with Desi secret from her father who also is Palmetto Grove's dean (John Heard), just as Moor Othello hid his marriage to Desdemona from her senator father. Hugo, the modern Iago, launches his mind games by exposing this secret.
What follows is Hugo's gradual manipulation of his teammates, ultimately tricking O into believing that friend Michael Casio (Andrew Keegan) is sleeping with Desi. Even knowing the ending, seeing Hugo carry out his plans nevertheless is heart wrenching.
The film is close in tone to 1996's "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet," but coincidentally, the film's execution is closer to some of Stiles' and Keegan's earlier work - 1999's "Ten Things I Hate About You" (based on Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew") - though "O" is far darker.Instead of the line-by-line and more-detailed approach of "Romeo," director Tim Blake Nelson loosely alludes to the original text, keeping the play's handkerchief love token, its powerful monologues and most importantly, its inherent themes of jealousy and trust.
The young cast performs solidly. Phifer skillfully captures O's bliss and fury and is at his best when delivering his chilling final monologue. Stiles, one of Hollywood's best young actresses, once again shows that she has no trouble taking on serious roles. Elden Henson is touching as Roger Rodriguez (Shakespeare's Roderigo). Sheen and Heard also turn in quality supporting performances.
The real surprise, however, is Hartnett, who plays Hugo with depth unseen in "Pearl Harbor," his most prominent work to date.Hartnett makes Hugo's machinations believable as he gains the trust of each character while preparing for the end.
"O" has problems because it takes on more than it is capable of handling. Nelson tackles race poorly - the only time the issues seem natural is when O and Desi are together, reminiscent of another Stiles interracial romance in "Save the Last Dance." Their conversations are humorous and honest to their characters, unlike the excessive, out-of-character derogatory terms that Michael and Hugo spit out. The script also gives Desi's friend Emily (Rain Phoenix) and other secondary characters more meaningless racial baggage. Nelson sets the film in Charleston, placing it in the heart of the South, and yet there are no traces of a Southern accent anywhere. And the only other black speaking character in the film is a drug dealer.
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Nelson's use of music is sparse, with effective rap but over-the-top opera pieces. He slyly uses Mos Def and Talib Kweli's "Black Star" as Phifer takes over a basketball game. During those sequences, his direction is fantastic - the camera follows the ball rapidly, with quick shots of Stiles' and Hartnett's expressions, which allow the plot to advance without clumsy dialogue.
It is painful to watch Hugo's desperate need for attention lead to the violent end of this movie. The deranged actions of Hugo and the sad and shocked reactions of the classmates clinging to each other automatically remind us of the Columbine High School tragedy. Miramax, the original distributor of "O," shelved the movie for two years. Miramax was smart to hold off on the movie's release, but to let it go to Lions Gate Films suggests fear of controversy.
Yes, "O" is a disturbing film, but it is disturbing for a reason. The story's ability to move viewers centuries after it was originally written says multitudes for its power. Shakespeare lives on.
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