Voodoo Macbeth review: USC student project earns passing score

“Voodoo Macbeth” has no fewer than 10 directors and eight screenwriters, all of whom are students or recent graduates of the USC School of Motion Picture Arts. Arguably the most impressive thing about the USC-produced film—the fictional dramatization of Orson Welles’s 1936 New York historical production of “Macbeth” with an all-black cast—is how smoothly it runs as one piece. Sure, you might argue about some of the dramatic liberties the creators took to embellish real-life events—or, in some cases, to rewrite the entire history covered in Orson Welles’s biographies and documentaries. And yes, the movie is generally more transformative than exciting. However, there is a great deal more than just new value to this collective effort.

Set during the Depression, “Voodoo Macbeth” begins with an introduction to the Negro Theater Unit, an innovative federally funded branch of the Works Project Administration, and two administrators: Rose McClendon (Inger Tudor), a witty black figure eager to pursue her long-standing dream. Playing Lady Macbeth, John Houseman (Daniel Kuhlman), a savvy producer who insists he knows only who can make her dream come true: Orson Welles (Jewell Wilson Bridge), a 20-year-old dynamo and self-proclaimed genius who appears to be a wage earner. Only when recording radio commercials.

Welles initially declined the party, wondering how many Harlem residents would flock to Shakespeare’s tragedy. The film benefits greatly by subsequently downplaying any racial sensitivity on his part – but that doesn’t mean Willis was portrayed in an entirely pleasurable light. After being talked into accepting the directing assignment by Virginia (John Schreiner), his actress wife, and grimly over her proposal to move the Scottish play to a stylized Haiti where voodoo priestesses are filled for queer sisters, Willis behaves nastyly as the vain-obsessed over-drinker ( and beyond), making major selection decisions on a whim of iron, and leading his team—made up of a handful of professional artists backed by untrained novices—with little regard for their emotional state, is “inappropriate” (in his own words, one of the few dialogue ironies). in the movie) with one of the cast members, and not surprisingly, he chronically ignores his wife. Come to think of it, he doesn’t even give her credit for the idea of ​​Haiti.

And here, inevitably, is where we have to face the question: Is “Voodoo Macbeth” just the latest “White Savior” scenario in a long line? If “no” qualifies, it’s mainly because Houseman, Virginia, and Wells himself refer to “wonder boy” associated with being self-absorbed and self-absorbed, through roles that are charmingly compelling and unreasonably demanding, with everyone in their orbit. Regardless of race, creed, or color.

In that respect, the Bridges star’s performance — and let’s face it, that may be the cast, but he’s the star here in every inch — is a fearless act, like the actor, who often looks like the younger and more abrasive Jim Carrey, somehow generates interest Radically without any noticeable concern about being loved. In fact, when he is called to impart Mr. Nice Guy’s side during the final scenes, it’s hard to tell if this was meant to be just another ploy on Welles’s part to get what he wanted.

Bridges ranks among equals in a relatively unknown cast, with other notable characters including Inger Tudor as McClendon, a mainstay of Harlem’s Renaissance who insists the show should go on; Wrekless Watson as Cuba Johnson, the boxer whom Macduff becomes improbably influential; Jeremy Tardy as Maurice, a repressed rookie gay actor who surprises no one more than himself when he rises to the occasion after taking a serendipitous break; and Gary MacDonald as Jack Carter, an alcoholic actor who, in real life, was much better in Welles’ “Macbeth” than his fictional counterpart here.

Production values ​​are at least on the order of a better movie than the average made for DVD, with only a few interiors suggestive of pennies and dollars stretching. And there’s a really disturbing connection to a subplot involving a racist, red-baited senator (appropriately played by Hunter Bowden) who wants to cut government funding for any “subversive” theatrical productions.

There’s also an undeniable in-baseball advantage for “Voodoo Macbeth,” which likely prevents it from reaching an audience outside of theater buffs — and possibly student filmmakers. But, hey, this isn’t a small demographic, is it?



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