One more for the nuclear-scarred road: Outcasted. Macbeth after the apocalypse.

Synopsis

A post-apocalyptic retelling of Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

Review

I like a good retelling of Shakespeare. It’s always interesting to me to see how well his stories survive, even through some kind of global catastrophe as depicted in this short. The Lady Macbeth character is as crazy as ever, even going so far as to bend religion to her own will to make the other survivors do what she wants.

What you end up with is a rather truncated version of Shakespeare’s play, but I’d argue the director took it in a direction that was less yawn-inducing by removing any lulls. If you have seen the play in its full form then you’ll quickly recognize who’s who. And if you haven’t, you’re still getting a good piece of sci-fi drama. The backdrop of the wasteland could easily be interchanged with something else and still be a decent story. That’s the beauty of adapting Shakespeare. Many of his works are timeless.

Of course there were some issues I had. The main one being the dialogue mix. It was too uneven throughout. I found myself constantly adjusting the volume back and forth. Since this was a student film I’m willing to let it go. We all have to learn in our craft to get better, and many times that comes from feedback from observers.

What did you think of Outcasted? Leave a comment below.

Information

Genre: Sci-Fi
Country: United Kingdom
Release Year: 2011
Directed by: Premek Rak
Production Group: Edinburgh Napier University
Runtime: 12 min.
Cast: Irene Allan, Malcom Mackay, Dave Albury, Rosie Richmond, Willem van Heemstra, Lila Michelle, Benjamin Budin, Andy Sager, Adrian Cambres
YouTube Channel: czechart

Technical

Camera: —
Lenses: —