if you thought baz luhrmann’s radical take on _william_shakespeare’s_romeo_+_juliet_ was wild , wait until what you see what tony award-winning stage director julie taymor ( _the_lion_king : _the_broadway_musical_ ) does to the bard’s _titus_andronicus_ for her audacious–and very bloody–film debut .
while luhrmann transplanted the star-crossed lovers to 1990s florida , taymor keeps this grisly tale of revenge in rome–but places it in a surreal temporal limbo .
the colosseum suggests the proper time of imperial rome , but high rises and heavy duty kitchen ovens suggest the 1990s , while the vintage automobiles and some costumes are more ’40s and ’50s , and other garments are more gladiator-like .
as tamora , queen of goths ( jessica lange ) exacts revenge on roman general titus ( anthony hopkins ) for killing her eldest son , and he does the same to her for the wrongs she commits , taymor obviously wanted to express the timeless relevance of the story’s underlying themes .
however , the time convergence approach only works at times , for often it’s just distracting , as in one scene where tamora’s suviving sons ( matthew rhys and jonathan rhys meyers ) blow off steam playing video arcade games .
taymor didn’t have to resort to such avant garde time tricks , for the story would have resonated just as strongly had she jettisoned them .
she is a strong storyteller and a master visual stylist , the latter compliment encompassing all areas , makeup and costume choices as well as those in the editing and photography departments .
she also has a sure way with actors ; hopkins’ titus is at once tragic and horrifying , and lange is sultry as the viperous tamora .
the clear standout of the cast , however , is harry lennix as aaron , a moor who is tamora’s secret lover and a schemer in his own right .
lennix brings great depth to a role that could have easily been played as a stock villain .
a great villain he indeed is , but to leave it at that isn’t giving full justice to his powerful and multi-dimensional work .
_titus_ isn’t a complete success , but it is never less than fascinating , and it announces the arrival of a fearlessly imaginative new cinematic voice .