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Julie
Taymor is known for
making big, huge,
elaborate, artistic
productions and
movies. There’s
Across the Universe,
Titus,
and
Spider-Man: Turn Off
the Dark.
Those are all
elaborate, artistic,
production where we
see things that
we’ve never seen
before. That’s the
case with her most
recent movie
The
Tempest.
She takes
Shakespeare’s last
notable work and
tells the story with
modern-day tools.
It’s a great story
that wraps up
everything
Shakespeare did into
one movie with
comedy, drama,
romance, and a bit
of tragedy and it’s
a movie that shows
what
Taymor does best,
being inventive to
tell a story in an
unorthodox way.
The
Tempest
as told by
Shakespeare has the
sorcerer Prospero (a
dude.) Taymor’s
movie adaptation of
the play has
Prospera (a chick.)
Prospera is a
sorceress that was
cast out of her
kingdom by her evil
brother and forced
to relocate to a
mysterious island
with her one and
only daughter. On
the island masters
her power and
possesses a spirit
that does her
bidding for her.
When her brother and
a greedy group
approach the island
she sends her spirit
to crush the ship
and lead them to the
shores of the island
where she can
finally get
vengeance for being
cast out. Once on
the island she
forces her spirit on
the group to get her
revenge, her
daughter falls in
love with one of the
sailors, and somehow
she gets her revenge
but she ends up not
getting what she
wants in the end.
I’m
not sure that
The
Tempest
is a play that makes
a great movie. It’s
good, it’s just a
little peculiar…
even for
Shakespeare. The set
up of ‘why’ is
minimal and the
relationships
between the
characters are so
odd and hard to
explain that… it
really just doesn’t
come across like
typical Shakespeare.
It’ got a few
different qualities
that explain why
people don’t like
this story as much
as some of his other
tales.
Still
it’s Shakespeare so
yes… he can write
better than me or
anybody else who
wrote anything over
the past 200 years.
And Taymor tells
Shakespeare in the
best spirit that
I’ve seen anybody do
so in a movie. She
doesn’t get away
from the dialogue
and when she changes
things she does so
in an artistic way.
She cheeses things
up a bit so they
seem like they’re
part of a play and
not part of a movie
too. She also gets a
ridiculous amount of
effort from her
actors. She turns
them into the artist
that she is and
there’s something to
be said for that.
It’s not hard to
derive art from the
likes of Helen
Mirren, Alfred
Molina, and Chris
Cooper I will say
that. Russell Brand
was outstanding here
too and this was
only his second
movie.
As far as movies go,
I’m not sure I’d
recommend this to
anyone because it’s
not awe-inspiring.
It’s for the
Shakespeare
enthusiasts. People
who aren’t in that
group aren’t going
to like it. It’s got
too many things more
appropriate for a
Shakespeare play
production and not a
film. That’s from
dialogue to
direction, to
costume design, all
the way through the
actors’ mannerisms.
That’s just as much
as complement as it
is a criticism in
this instance. Not
everyone is going to
appreciate this as
much as your British
literature teacher.
The bonus features
on this movie are
extensive. There’s a
commentary with
Taymor. There’s also
a commentary with
Shakespeare experts.
Then there’s are
plenty of other
making-of/behind-the-scenes
featurettes.
The
Tempest
is an interesting
movie and Taymor is
an artist and proves
so with this movie.
She shows us some
things that haven’t
been seen in a movie
and she stays
extremely true to
the Shakespeare
spirit. Maybe a
little too true to
make it an
accessible movie but
true enough that the
millions of people
that love and
appreciate his work
will appreciate this
movie too.
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