Hamlet Goes Business

The plot of William Shakespeare's Hamlet had already been transposed to the modern business world twice before the release of Hamlet Goes Business. These earlier films, Strange Illusion (46) and The Rest is Silence (60), are nearly as dour as the Shakespeare original.

Only Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki was able to see the dark humor and satirical implications of such a time-displacement effort: his modernization of Hamlet was set in a rubber duck factory, making all the passions torn to tatters seem slightly ridiculous.

While the film follows the traditional tale of a son seeking revenge for his father's murder, director Kaurismaki never misses an opportunity to skewer the business world, just as he'd been doing in collaboration with his writer/director brother Mika ever since 1982. Also released in some countries as Hamlet Gets Business, this film was first seen in Finland as Hamlet Liikemaailmassa.