'Scarlet' Review: Mamoru Hosoda's Visually Daring, Gender-Swapped Hamlet Adaptation on Netflix
By
John Serba
Crisp on the outside, thoughtful on the inside. A keeper.
Summary
Mamoru Hosoda's latest anime film 'Scarlet' on Netflix is a gender-swapped, visually ambitious adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, set largely in a quasi-afterlife realm beyond time and space. The film takes significant creative liberties, including elements like gigantic flying dragons not found in the original play, making it one of the most unconventional Shakespeare adaptations to date.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledScarlet (now on Netflix) is the latest film from celebrated Japanese anime director Mamoru Hosoda, perhaps best known for 2018's Mirai, a surprise Oscar nominee, and 2021's Beauty and the Beast adaptation, Belle.
For the new film, he once again draws from classic literature, gender-switching Hamlet to Scarlet — then indulging some significant creative liberties by setting most of the story in a strange and beautiful quasi-afterlife existing beyond time and space.
Which is to say, out of all the nontraditional Shakespeare adaptations out there, this might be the first one featuring gigantic flying dragons, but I appreciate the wild swing.
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