Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of Macbeth. (A24) A woke, Oscar-ready Shakespeare update
The tragedy of Joel Coen’s Tragedy of Macbeth is that it is not a comedy. When Coen, usually in collaboration with his brother Ethan, explored crime, deception, corruption, death, and fate, the perspective was angled toward satire, paradox, and dark humor in Fargo, The Man Who Wasn’t There, No Country for Old Men. Working alone this time, Joel Coen plays it humorlessly straight.
But he doesn’t play it safe. Coen fashions a “color-blind” adaptation starring Denzel Washington in the lead as the Thane of Glamis, plus a host of other black performers in prominent roles mixed with assorted white performers (including Frances...