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MENOMONEE
FALLS - Gwyneth Paltrow and Kenneth Branagh are about to visit
the Menomonee Falls Public Library, along with Elizabeth
Taylor and Richard Burton.
The actors
and actresses, as if you hadn’t already guessed, will appear
via the silver screen during the Shakespeare Movie Fest, to be
held at the library from Dec. 3 through Dec. 8.
Movie
versions of three plays and two speculative biopics - the
Oscar-winning “Shakespeare in Love” and the recently
released “Anonymous” - will be shown. Screenings will be
free and open to the public.
Movie
presentations at the library, W156-N8436 Pilgrim Road, are not
a new concept. Films have been shown regularly over the last
few years, Library Director Jane Schall said.
The films
generally have been of recent vintage, like “The Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel” (2011), which attracted 130 patrons between
two October screenings.
“We
usually get 20 to 40 patrons per screening,” said Karen
Esvang, adult reference librarian.
Esvang,
Schall and assistant director Mari Schmidt created Shakespeare
Movie Fest and chose its five films.
“I
happen to love ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’” Schall said in
explaining one of the selections.
“I think
we chose (movies that) are light and airy, fun and (generally)
comedic,” added Esvang, a self-described “Shakespeare
geek. “We want people to come in and look at Shakespeare in
a different way.”
The movies
are presented in the libary’s meeting-community room, which
has a capacity of 100. The titles, summaries and screening
times follow:
“The
Taming of the Shrew.”
Plot: The
title pretty much says it all regarding Franco Zeffirelli’s
comedy with Elizabeth Taylor in the title role and real life
husband Richard Burton as her tamer.
Year
released: 1967
Running
time: 122 minutes
Show times
and dates: 2:15 p.m. Monday; 10:15 a.m. Dec. 8.
“Shakespeare
in Love”
Plot:
Again, a title speaks a mouthful. Gwyneth Paltrow plays the
love interest, opposite Joseph Fiennes’ writer’s
block-bedeviled Bard. It won an Academy Award for Best Picture
in 1998.
Year
released: 1998
Running
time: 122 minutes
Show times
and dates: 2:15 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.
“Much
Ado About Nothing”
Plot:
Kenneth Branagh directs and stars with Emma Thompson and
Denzel Washington in this comedy of intertwining love tales.
Year
released: 1993
Running
time: 111 minutes
Show times
and dates: 2:15 p.m. Wednesday and Dec. 8
“Anonymous”
Plot: This
drama considers an old literary conundrum: Just who did write
the plays attributed to Shakespeare?
Year
released: 2012
Running
time: 130 minutes
Show times
and date: 2:15 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. Dec. 6
“Love’s
Labour’s Lost”
Plot:
Branagh, Alicia Silverstone and Nathan Lane channel the Bard
through a 1930s-style musical highlighted by the melodies of
Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and George Gershwin.
Year
released: 2000
Running
time: 94 minutes
Show time
and date: 2:15 p.m. Dec. 7.
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