Looking for Richard

Al Pacino wants to stage Shakespeare's Richard III and takes a camera along while he does it. The film does two things at once: passages of the play are performed in costume, and the rehearsals, arguments and preparation are shown. In between, Pacino asks people in the street questions: what does Shakespeare mean to you, why does everyone say they do not understand, why does the text stand so far off. Al Pacino directs and plays Richard. Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and Estelle Parsons appear; many theatre people and academics also speak. It was shot on and off over four years and Pacino paid for part of it himself. The idea the narrative builds is that the text is understood by playing it; the film is not an explanation but a record of work. The rehearsal scenes are the best sections; the actors argue about what the lines mean and do not agree. The film takes up directly the reticence of American actors before Shakespeare and treats it as a question of language. The border between documentary and fiction is deliberately left uncertain. Who it is for: viewers who like theatre and accounts of acting. Who it is not for: the structure is loose, the context is missing for anyone who does not know the play, and some sections repeat themselves.