Looking for Richard

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Looking for Richard ★★★ 1996 (PG-13)

A Shakespearean “Vanya on 42nd Street,” “Richard” is the first semidocumentary addition to the barrage of Bard adaptations. Pacino's protracted pic dwells on a filmmaker's struggles to understand the play. Punctuated with comic relief, Pacino makes a pilgrimage to the Globe Theatre, taps Brit theatre heavyweights Gielgud and Redgrave for thoughts on interpreting Shakespeare, and combs New York for candid “man in the street” impressions in a quest to bring his subject to a wider public. Over the course of four years, Pacino, in various stages of facial hair growth, plays the deformed usurper with a cast of worthy Americans (Spacey, Kline, Ryder, Baldwin, and Quinn), illustrating key scenes of the play. 108m/C VHS, DVD . Dominic Chianese, Paul Guilfoyle, Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder, Kevin Spacey, Aidan Quinn, F. Murray Abraham, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Conway, John Gielgud, James Earl Jones, Kevin Kline, Estelle Parsons, Vanessa Redgrave, Harris Yulin, Penelope Allen, Al Pacino; D: Al Pacino; C: Robert Leacock; M: Howard Shore. Directors Guild ‘96: Feature Doc. (Pacino).

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