Rosencrantz & Gildenstern Are Dead

(1990) dir Tom Stoppard w/Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss [117 min; Digital]
Tom Stoppard’s brilliantly imagined backstory for two minor characters in Hamlet is both a rollicking comedy and a metaphysical rumination on the meaning of drama and, indeed, existence. While travelling on the road to Elsinore, Rosencrantz (Oldman) and Gildenstern (Roth) – or was it vice-versa – meet a travelling troupe of actors and find themselves becoming a part of the play presented.