Ophelia (2018)

Shakespeare's Hamlet sure inspires a lot of sequels and riffs, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Gertrude and Claudius, Hamlet 2. Now comes Ophelia, based on the novel of the same name by Lisa Klein the film is a revisionist take on Hamlet's love interest that recasts its lead as a feminist hero, not something I recall Ophelia being in the play. The story here takes its liberates with the source material and recasts it in an opening narration of Ophelia stating that yes you've heard a story "about" her, but now it's time to tell her "real" story. I don't mind the loosening of the story, a classic work is one that cries out to be reimagined to suite changing times, and the 14th century Denmark presented here is certainly a racially integrated one. Daisy Ridley anchors the piece as Ophelia, assisted dramatically by Naomi Watts, and to a lesser extent Clive Owen. This movie took around 40 minutes to get going and I was a little bored, but after the King is murdered it becomes more interesting and held my attention, Hamlet already has a crazy ending as it is, but Ophelia pushes that up a notch to where it teeters on parody. This movie grew on me and really brought home just how much Daisy Ridley want's to broaden her career. ***