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All Movie Info
Directed By
Tim Blake Nelson
Written By:
William Shakespeare, Brad Kaaya
Cast:
Mekhi Phifer, Josh Hartnett, Julia Stiles, Elden Henson, Andrew Keegan, John Heard, A.J. Johnson, Martin Sheen, Rain Phoenix, Chris Freihofer, Chris Dong, Rachel Shumate, Marshall Gitter, Lisa Benavides, Chris Freihofer, Ken French
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O (2001)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
March 29th, 2008
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'O' is Tim Blake Nelson's slick and sophisticated update of my favorite Shakespeare play, Othello, the tragedy about the Moorish general married to the beautiful Desdemona, whose downfall is engineered by Iago, the most devious and eloquent of literary villains, who exploits Othello's fatal flaw, his jealousy and inability to trust Desdemona when she says she is loyal only to him. Here, Othello is Odin James (Mekhi Pfifer), a black basketball star at a mostly white private academy. The school needs him to win championships, and the fact that he is such a vital asset allows for his relationship with Desi (Julia Stiles), daughter of the headmaster, to be overlooked, where it would otherwise be a serious issue. The story follows that of Othello very closely, he is an athlete here instead of a military commander, and Desdemona is his girlfriend instead of his spouse, but it does not compromise the tone, mood, or meaning of the source material, simply makes it more accessible to a modern audience. There is violence and sex, and the scheming Hugo (Josh Hartnett) convinces Odin that Desi is cheating on him with Michael (Andrew Keegan) and provides what seems to be irrefutable proof of the affair. Hugo is driven by jealousy himself; he is jealous of Odin because he gets more attention from Hugo's father (Martin Sheen), the basketball coach. They are on the same team, Hugo and Odin, and Odin is the one everyone watches and cheers for. Hugo, like Iago, does not desire Desi; he uses her because she is the one thing that can destroy Odin; he uses her without her ever knowing it, and skillfully manipulates Odin in malevolent ways while presenting himself as a friend. 'O' is more successful in its efforts to re-invent Shakespeare than 10 Things I Hate About You, which tackled Taming of the Shrew, and Baz Luhrmann's decadent gangland version of Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. It keenly understands the original play and seeks to generate interest in it among those who may typically avoid the works of the Bard. Othello is not read in high school classrooms, though it is less violent than MacBeth, and perhaps not even as sexual as Romeo and Juliet (at least the sexuality is more explicit in this adaptation).
Mekhi Pfifer is the right choice for this role, able to earn our simultaneous sympathy and scorn, capturing Othello's anguish and possessing lots of screen presence. Despite what his resume may otherwise indicate, Josh Hartnett gives an extremely good performance here, as he effectively explores all of the subtleties and complexities of Iago, offering an interpretation of the character that would be a fine addition to any classical stage production. Julia Stiles is terrific, a real veteran of these kinds of movies, her Desdemona seems more vulnerable and naïve, but that makes her even more of an unfortunate victim of an undeservedly cruel fate. She dies still loving Othello, and forgiving him, though he cannot forgive himself. Comparing it to 10 Things I Hate About You is perhaps unfair, because that is a supposed to be a comedy, if not the Elizabethan equivalent of a romantic comedy, while Othello represents the darkest and most somber of tragedies. 'O' taps into the demanding nature of high school sports, the emphasis on victory at any cost, and the lengths to which one will go to be accepted and become popular. These are the new lessons Othello has to teach, in addition to the old ones about the destructive and corrosive effects of jealousy.
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