WORDMAN'S TCM MOVIE OF THE MONTH WINNER

OTHELLO (1965) - 5 February 7:15am
Man oh man oh man, where to start?
Laurence Olivier stars as Othello...yeah, that's right, take a minute to soak that in. The caucasian Englishman, in blackface, stars in a film version of his famous London stage production.
Here's the problem - he's really good in it. I mean, REALLY REALLY good in it. Olivier puts a lot of famous actors to shame in this. Here's a sentence I didn't expect to say: I haven't seen a better Othello than Laurence Olivier (and I love me some Furious Styles!). By Act II, you're sucked in. The man is that good. His performance of Othello is so heartaching, so heartwrenching, it's amazing. He's the kind of actor that makes other actors get out of the way - right down to the blocking. Watch how by Act III his co-stars take cover and let him take the stage as if he were a tornado ripping through the countryside. It's truly one of the more astounding performances.
There's surprisingly few film performances of Maggie Smith when she was younger, so you definitely want to catch her as the hanky-losing Desdemona (Wordman's "Real rap" moment: "Bitch, if I give you my Grandmammy's handky - know where that shit is at all times!").
The look of the movie should probably be explained: they went for a "film the stage production" model. Before you groan ("Who wants to watch a movie version of a play?"), this film is one of the few times it actually works.
WHY OTHELLO IS THIS MONTH'S WINNER: There are better movies on this month, and movies with arguably better performances, but none as ballsy to air on television.
The balls it takes to air this film during Black History Month - with a white man in the starring role! This movie wins WORDMAN'S TCM MOVIE OF THE MONTH on the strength of gutsy programming. So few television networks air anything with even the slightest hint of risk. So salute TCM for trying to start a dialogue - as well as show a great movie - by watching it this month.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams