YMMV / Othello (1995)

• Best Known for the Fanservice: Even on This Very Wiki, the film seems best known for Othello getting Shirtless Scenes. He doesn't get that many but given that Laurence Fishburne rarely did them, and the movie's poster has a sexy makeout between Othello and Desdemona front and centre - it's understandable.
• Common Knowledge: Many seem to think Kenneth Branagh directed the film much like he did for other adaptations of Shakespearian plays. He didn't do this one and is merely an actor here, that honour going to Oliver Parker.
• Ho Yay: There's rather a lot of it between Iago and Roderigo - something that isn't usually touched upon in the text. There's plenty between him and Othello too, with Iago lying down below Othello's dead body at the end - and an earlier scene where Othello nearly strangles him underwater, and the aftermath looks very much like sexual tension (not helped by Iago having a Sexy Soaked Shirt).
• Narm:
  • Some of Michael Moloney's deliveries as Roderigo are so hammy they make his scenes amusing rather than anything else.
  • Iago stopping in the middle of spooning his wife to deliver the soliloquy about the handkerchief is quite jarring and looks like a comedy bit.
  • Iago referring to Othello as an "old black ram" becomes this, due to Kenneth Branagh being Laurence Fishbourne's elder by a few months. However in comparison to some other productions such as the 2008 Globe Theatre production featuring 52-year-old Tim McInnerny and 46-year-old Eamon Walker, this is a more minor case.
• Older Than They Think: Many people seem to be under the impression this is the first film adaptation featuring a black man as Othello, when in actuality it is the first theatrical film adaptation. In 1990, a television film featuring Willard White as Othello was released
• Retroactive Recognition: This was Michael Sheen's film debut as Lodovico.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: The decision to cast an African-American as Othello and make the film shortly after the LA riots definitely got a few viewers thinking. This version also plays up the interracial relationship aspect.

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