William Shakespeare left no instructions as to the right way future dramatists should tell “ Hamlet .” We have only the text, which reveals fresh insights each time someone new recites it. With director Aneil Karia ’s new interpretation, we get the great Riz Ahmed in the role, which is reason enough for the film to exist — but it’s perhaps the only one in a remake that might better have chosen not to be. (Ahmed previously starred in Karia’s Oscar-winning short, “The Long Goodbye,” which suggested real promise for future collaborations.)

Transposed to modern-day London, where Hamlet belongs to a wealthy family of Indian heritage, Karia’s version preserves the original text, albeit abridged, reordered and occasionally spoken by different characters entirely. Screenwriter Michael Lessl

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