Diractors is an ongoing series in which Hassle writer Jack Draper examines films, new and old, whose directors are better known for their work in front of the camera.
“Othello and high school- sounds like those words shouldn’t even go together. They’re silly sounding and not serious, yet right now in America we are in a place where its not only serious but believable. The very fact that we can pull this off in this film proves that point.” Here Tim Blake Nelson speaks about the point of O, in which its purpose is within its conceit. Loss of innocence here doesn’t have to say anymore of what it is to be profound, but we see a way it can with this updated version of Othello. What can be felt at the core of the movie on my first viewing is how Nelson accomplishes exactly this. Teen violence only comes from anguish and those ideas are forever. A teenage experience is inherently a little heartbreaking, dipping into Shakespeare levels of tragedy makes sense. O finds itself in the middle after a start to the school shooter epidemic but before the social media brainrot yet the sadness of teenage jealousy reminds the same. Not to mention the race in Othello is already baked in.
Oftentimes, no matter the movie’s popularity, I’ll go ahead and explain what the content of the movie is. For O, it’s just the William Shakespeare tragedy, Othello, set in high school. Only recently did I study Othello from undergrad, but it can still seem fresh for cinema. Julia Stiles knows this well; she led 10 Things I Hate About You just a few years earlier, which is a high school reimagining of The Taming of the Shrew. Then, she was surrounded by Joseph Gordon Levitt and Heath Ledger in an iconic trio; here, it’s Micah Pfeiffer and Josh Hartnett who lead to each other’s personal downfalls. But it’s all so clever how to snugly fit in Othello to high school. Odin James (Pfeiffer) is a future NBA superstar and is seeing the dean’s daughter, Desi (Stiles). Odin’s troubled friend is Hugo (Hartnett), the son of the high school basketball team and is deeply resentful of his father’s preference of Odin on and off the court. When Hugo plots a diabolical scheme to sow the seed of mistrust between O and Desi, it sets in motion a disturbing chain of events which erupts into a firestorm of breathtaking intensity.
It all reminded me of fellow diractor, Todd Field. It’s a tragedy that is deeply felt with human emotion despite this operatic play used as the framework. Similar to specifically In The Bedroom, you can tell audiences that Field’s debut is based on Shakespeare and nobody would second guess when thinking about how gripping the characters are. Tying both diractors together is how impeccable they are with actors, and O impressed me so much to bring up the movie from good to great. Micah, Josh, and Julia (first name basis) are all such broken but tenderly actress teens. How to elevate Iago, Othello, and Desdemona is already a tough task in cinema but to mold these into prep school kids matches up to how scary the world reveals itself to be when you’re a teen. Competition is fueling jealousy then jealousy leads the all the more accessible violence America’s youth find themself in. While the date switch from the Columbine tragedy shows even more relevance for an updated Othello. The results of people’s actions leaves a reader and viewer are left with this feeling of sadness that these characters accomplished nothing from the violence.
Its all on Tim Blake Nelson, who pinpoints this sadness with teens, Shakespeare and real life tragedies. Nelson is a national treasure and has had a pretty flexible career as a character actor. There’s an entire subgenre in this Diractors series thats solely made up from character actors like Nelson seizing an opportunity to direct and it not being viewed as an extreme career pivot like it would be for a movie star trying their hand in directing. Hare, Nelson making movies isn’t just originating as an actor but as a Brown and Julliard graduate, (???) novelist as of a couple years ago, playwright, (we’ll get to Eye of God and The Grey Zone soon) narrator and reliable that guy who has worked with folks like Hal Hartley, Steven Spielberg and the Coens. Truly a sneakily bright, swiss army knife of a creative who we take for granted? Similar to Michael Shannon’s Eric LaRue, (kinda similar movie?) he also found himself ready to make a movie but his position as an actor means it is essential for his debut to be a massive success.
O
2001
dir. Tim Blake Nelson
95 min.
