Product Description

O is odin james the schools star basketball player and future nba hopeful. Even though hes the only black student at the elite palmetto grove academy he has the adoration of all including the teams coach and the deans beautiful daughter desi. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/17/2002 Starring: Julia Stiles Mekhi Phifer Run time: 94 minutes Rating: R

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12528 in DVD
• Brand: Lions Gate
• Released on: 2002-02-19
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 95 minutes

Amazon.com
When you compare O to William Shakespeare's Othello, you'll realize just how well this modern adaptation really works. Shakespeare's tragedy transfers nicely to the film's contemporary private school setting, where Othello is now Odin (Mekhi Phifer), star of the basketball team and the school's only African American student. Desdemona is Desi (Julia Stiles), the dean's daughter and Odin's girlfriend, and Iago is Hugo (Josh Hartnett), the coach's steroid-shooting son, who jealously plants seeds of doubt that fester in Odin's mind, leading them all to a tragically violent fate. As directed by Tim Blake Nelson (who played the dimwit Delmar in O Brother, Where Art Thou?), this is a clever and serious interpretation of Shakespeare that, sadly, was shelved for two years when its distributor balked at potential comparisons to the Columbine massacre. Such fears were pointless; this well-acted film delivers an anti-violence message that younger viewers will readily appreciate. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
This transposition of "Othello" to a Southern prep school, with Mekhi Phifer as a black star basketball player, Julia Stiles as his white girlfriend, and Josh Hartnett as a jealous white rival on the team, was held from distribution for two years, following the shootings at Columbine, but there was probably no need for caution, since the movie is sincere, nonexploitative, and heartfelt, and has no resemblance to any of the school shootings. Phifer's performance develops some tragic power, but Hartnett's Iago figure, without the benefit of verse-or Verdi's music-seems merely improbable. The movie is a decent try, but the attempts to stay close to Shakespeare's plot and to say something about American racism make for a complicated and confused way of telling a story that should have been straightforward. With Martin Sheen as the volatile coach of the basketball team. Directed by Tim Blake Nelson, sensitively, but without sensuality or excitement. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker