Wonderfully cast and thoroughly engrossing, this re-telling of the Othello story works amazingly well -- thanks to a canny script that knows that the power of this story is in the details of the characters' relationships, and to exciting, unfussy direction by Tim Blake Nelson. Martin Sheen's character of "Duke" (the coach) is the most expanded from the original and it is a masterful invention. I hope the delayed release of this film and the press's insistence on a Columbine connection doesn't keep people from seeing it. I found "O" far more interesting than the wan, abridged 1995 version of the original with Fishburne and Branagh.
