Looking for Richard might as well be titled Looking for William Shakespeare for all the interviews, analyses and debate it proffers. "The Bard" has always been a tricky obstacle not just for the actors who tackle his work, but the audience, who may not fully understand the historical references and Renaissance expressions that pepper his plays. As several familiar actors confirm in this quasi-documentary, however, it's not the words themselves that are stumbling blocks in Shakespeare's works. It is the combined inability of the onstage actors to effectively project the inner thoughts of their characters, coupled with the inevitable distance today's audience has with the material because it refers to personalities that likely would have been more familiar at the time it was actually written.
This movie, shot over the span of four years and directed by Al Pacino, helps to bridge that gap in a light and non-obtrusive way. In his quest to make the play Richard III more accessible to the layman, Pacino creates a kind of Shakespeare for Dummies, but it never feels condescending or simplistic. And since he obviously respects and loves the process so much, the result is an infectious kind of enthusiasm for the theatrical process.
A bevy of actors are along for the ride as they discuss and interpret their character motivations. There's the meticulous Kevin Spacey as Buckingham, Harris Yulin as the dying King Edward, an eager Aidan Quinn as Richmond, and the mesmerizing, scene-stealing Penelope Allen as Queen Elizabeth. Winona Ryder plays Lady Anne in an extended re-enactment of Richard's seduction scene just after he has killed her husband. The ill-fated Clarence is played by Alec Baldwin, in a passionate performance.
And yet, oddly enough, it is Pacino himself who is miscast as Richard. Al is probably my favourite movie actor, and there can be no doubt that he knows the meaning of the words and conveys the text meaningfully, but his raspy voice, intentionally wide eyes and exaggerated impression of Richard's physical deformity never really resonate and seem over-the-top in most scenes.
The rest of Looking for Richard is an educational and entertaining experience, as we hear from scholars, people on the street, and other actors such as James Earl Jones, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, and John Gielgud. Only about a third of the actual play is performed, but in a mere two hours so much of the crucial, Coles Notes information is successfully communicated, that it is enough to carry any viewer through any and all future performances of the play one may see. Perhaps Pacino should consider doing an entire Looking for... series of films.
