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The hugely ambitious
Beckett on Film project gathered together 19 different directors to turn the 19 stage works written by Samuel Beckett into films. The range is vast--from the 45-second
Breath to the two hours of his most famous play,
Waiting for Godot--but all the works reflect Beckett's penetrating obsessions with memory, regret, and the simple, excruciating experience of being. Not every film succeeds--like all great theater, Beckett's plays demand interaction with a live audience to express their full intent--and though scholars tout Beckett's every word as genius, several works are slight (
Catastrophe,
Ohio Impromptu, or
What Where will leave many viewers unimpressed). But all the plays feature Beckett's uniquely distilled language; the greatest of them--including
Waiting for Godot (in which two tramps pass the time while they wait for someone who may never come),
Endgame (in which a blind man and his lame servant bicker and joke as the world declines), and
Play (in which a love triangle is bitterly recalled by two women and a man in urns)--are astonishing in both their potent humor and piercing grief.
Though Beckett's stature drew in an impressive array of directors (including Anthony Minghella, Patricia Rozema, and Neil Jordan) and actors (including Jeremy Irons, Julianne Moore, Alan Rickman, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Michael Gambon, and John Gielgud), some of the finest work comes from relative unknowns. But the gem of the collection is Krapp's Last Tape, about an old man revisiting his life through recordings he has made throughout his years. It's the perfect marriage of text, actor (the incomparable John Hurt), and director (Atom Egoyan, The Sweet Hereafter); in their hands, the play spins from deeply funny to deeply sad, all with only the slightest dim of the light in Hurt's eyes. --Bret Fetzer
Product Description
2003 PEABODY AWARD WINNER!
This acclaimed film project includes all 19 plays of Samuel Beckett, considered the most significant Irish playwright of the 20th century. Many of these outstanding filmed productions have received critical acclaim at prestigious international film festivals around the world including New York, Toronto and Venice. Beckett on Film has brought together some of the most noted directors of our day including: Atom Egoyan, Damien Hirst, Neil Jordan, Conor McPherson, Damien O'Donnell, David Mamet, Anthony Minghella, Karel Reisz and Patricia Rozema. A list of distinguished actors including exceptional performances by Michael Gambon, the late Sir John Gielgud, John Hurt, Jeremy Irons, Julianne Moore, Harold Pinter, Alan Rickman and Kirsten Scott-Thomas.
THIS 4 DVD 19 Play Set includes:
Waiting for Godot (running time: 2 hours)
Not I (running time: 14 minutes)
Rough for Theatre I (running time: 20 minutes)
Ohio Impromptu (running time: 12 minutes)
Krapp's Last Tape (running time: 58 minutes)
What Where (running time: 12 minutes)
Footfalls (running time: 28 minutes)
Come and Go (running time: 8 minutes)
Act Without Words I (running time: 16 minutes)
Happy Days (running time: 1 hour 19 minutes)
Catastrophe (running time: 7 minutes)
Rough for Theatre II (running time: 30 minutes)
Breath (running time: 45 seconds)
That Time (running time: 20 minutes)
Endgame (running time: 1 hour 24 minutes)
Act Without Words II (running time: 11 minutes)
A Piece of Monologue (running time: 20 minutes)
Play (running time: 16 minutes)
Rockaby (running time: 14 minutes)
Plus a 52 minute Documentary on the making of the Beckett on Film Project
Features
*Widescreen
*Dolby Digital
*Color and Black & White
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