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starring: Jonathan Penner, Randall Batinkoff, Norman Reedus, Jamey Sheridan, Brooke Taylordirected by: Stacy Title
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9781578482887
Format: Color, NTSC
ISBN: 1578482887
Label: Unapix / a-Pix Ent.
Manufacturer: Unapix / a-Pix Ent.
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Unapix / a-Pix Ent.
Release Date: June 27, 2000
Running Time: 89 minutes
Sales Rank: 26369
Studio: Unapix / a-Pix Ent.
Theatrical Release Date: 1998
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
'There's something rotten in the City of Angels,' claims the video box. Sure enough, under the dysfunctional dealings of a family business is the story of Hamlet retooled for the twilight world of nocturnal L.A. Jack (Jonathan Penner, who cowrote the screenplay with director Stacy Title) is spending a joyless break from graduate school to deal with his father's sudden death. He's disconnected from his unstable lover (Mary-Louise Parker), the daughter of family lawyer Philip Baker Hall, and his mom (Jacqueline Bisset), a withdrawn alcoholic who has let his '2-watt' Uncle Carl (Jamey Sheridan) manage the family fortune. When a mysterious figure tells him that Carl murdered his father, Jack's unsettled feelings are thrown into a restless rage. This official Slamdance 1999 selection is never as moving or insightful as Michael Almereyda's Wall Street Hamlet with Ethan Hawke, but Title makes the most of this free adaptation, and drives the film with the simmering energy of a frantic, wound-up hero. It's surprising how well the story lends itself to the double-crossing and devious betrayal of modern neo-noir, only periodically stopping for a Shakespearean rumination (the 'Alas, poor Yorick' speech becomes a meditation on a skull fragment, the remains of a brutal execution-style murder). Title makes the fatal architecture of Shakespeare work beautifully and unpretentiously in a modern context, creating a modest but satisfying gritty little thriller. --Sean Axmaker
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Interesting, yet stick with Hamlet
Although the title of Stacy Title's 1999 film noir reinvention of the great bard's Hamlet may be the best thing about the film, it at least makes for an interesting viewing. Title takes Shakespeare's classic and updates it to a sleazy, dark, hot and decadent modern LA (which when you think about it, is not much a stretch). It's a well made film with some very creative, if not haunting flashback and dream sequences. The cast and their performances, for the most part is top notch. In small roles, Jacqueline ... Read More
Rating: - Very good hip Hamlet....but no extras
Stacy Title, the director of the little-known but effective black comedy The Last Supper (about liberal yuppies who bump off arrogant right-wingers) here presents a modern re-working of Hamlet with lots of gunplay, sleek scene transitions, quirky character traits (check out the pharmacist--very funny small bit), and a real flair for visual panache.
As Jack, the Hamlet guy, Jonathan Penner looks too old to be in grad school, but overall he does a much better job than the horribly miscast Ethan Hawke ... Read More
Rating:  - Confusing title, satisfying film
Hewing closely as it does to the basic outline of "Hamlet", I expected not to be surprised by "Let the Devil Wear Black"--but this movie is liberated enough to function admirably well on its own with its own quirks, internal logic, and occasional flashes of real wit.
Jonathan Penner, a stunningly beautiful actor, portrays a hero whose history of institutionalization keeps our response to his deep suspicion and contacts with his dead father ambivalent--is there a hideous conspiracy afoot, or is Jack just losing ... Read More
Rating: - A little Pepto will do.
Hamlet set in the sleazy underworld of L.A.
I saw half of this on cable and thought what the hell, So I bought it and was pleasantly surprised. The Acting is Top notch, Great Character actors Maury Chaukin,Phillip Baker Hall. and Mary Louise Parker all do a fine job. The Alas poor Yorik Scene works really Well.
So if you like contemporary updates of the Bards work. Check this one out.
3 and 1/2 stars.
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