High-spirited and infectiously energetic, Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard is a masterclass in Shakespeare and acting conducted by an uncommonly passionate and delightful teacher. Ranging from New York’s streets to the reconstructed Globe Theatre in London, talking with everyone from strangers encountered by chance to scholars and celebrated actors, Pacino is the voluble, mercurial centre of a film that ingeniously interweaves commentary on Shakespeare with analysis of, rehearsals for and key segments from a Richard III on film.
The film’s source, unmistakably, is the actor’s love for Shakespeare and desire to communicate the writer’s poetry to audiences of all stripes. What starts as history lessons and rehearsals has, by its end, left behind all intellectual props and achieved a magnificent emotional force. Pacino’s performance as Richard not only provides the film’s rawest, most ferocious energies, it also suggests why this play is ideal for the actor-director who wants to illuminate Shakespeare overall.
While intelligence, gusto and generosity characterize Pacino’s work with his cast, the film is equally noteworthy for the combined economy and clarity of its editing. It also shines with a general exuberance and good humour that provide a steady stream of comic moments and light-handed asides to buoy the drama’s weightier concerns.