Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead ★★★ 1990 (PG) Playwright Stoppard adapted his own absurdist 1967 play to film—which at first look makes as much sense as a "Swan Lake" ballet on radio. Patience is rewarded for those who stick with it. Two tragicomic minor characters in "Hamlet" squabble rhetorically and misperceive Shakespeare's plot tightening fatally around them. Uprooted from the stage environment, it's arcane but hilarious if you're paying attention. Roth and Oldman are superb as the doomed duo. 118m/C VHS, DVD. GB Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, Iain Glen, Joanna Roth, Donald (Don) Sumpter, Sven Medvesck, Joanna Miles, Ian Richardson, John Burgess, Vili Matula, Ljubo Zecevic;
Director:
Tom Stoppard;
Writer:
Tom Stoppard;
Writer:
Peter Biziou;
Cameo:
Stanley Myers. Venice Film Fest. '91: Picture.
