Macbeth

Orson Welles - 1948
This film is clearly made with deep reference to Eisenstein, and I mean by that his 'Ivans'. The look of it, the clear geometrical shapes, the high and low angles. The framings through these traingles specially, the sharp horns, the very Wellesian also high and low angles. Also note the radically off-centre compostions, memorably reversing between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth; unnaturalness and a sense of place. These ideas of disjunction occur as the sound constantly intervenes, birds, rain, and the wind, fighting.
Indeed, the space of the film is remarkable; seemingly all one set, rocky outcrop, as though wind flies through it, it is all outside. In no way realist, it has a dirt to it, and a sense of opennes. For all its abstraction, this feels like one of the most powerful evocations of a past historical period; a different kind of world. The location also allows interesting things to be done with time. There are long long brooding dialogue, contemplation as we wander in the hellish outcrop in long takes. Then, as its all in one location, literally a fast, brutal action can be launched into in one move. These fast cuts are again very Russian, shots of terrifying heads in bold lighting, cutting up space (note the witches and Macbeth at the start, shattering normal cinematic space).
All in one location as it is, it is in conversation with the theatre, but is specially cinematic. The use of shapes in the compostions, as discussed above, and a remarkable ability of Welles to tell us something through imaginative camera position dictates that.
Thematically, well, it's Macbeth. Welles is looseish, but it seems what counts as 'loose' is often stricter for Shaekspeare than others; alright, this is quite 'faithful'. Though of course it's not like the text is closed, Welles seems specially to focus in naturalness and unnaturalness. Questions that came to me would question this distinction, leading on to ask how far is one allowed to go? Is pride, power-lust, natural, or rather to what agree are we allowed to be 'natural', is Macbeth allowed to take this instinct? Is any stopping place arbitrary? In relation to the specific conditions of society, the tragedy of these rules not being clear, logical, spelt out.