Nothing But Blue Sky, and the Blues
Paul Mazursky's Tempest (1982) borrows from Shakespeare's play, taking place mostly on a Greek island, with a cranky retired architect (John Cassavetes), his teenage daughter (Molly Ringwald), and his girlfriend (Susan Sarandon), playing roles reflected in the seventeenth century comedy. Raul Julia plays a character based on Caliban. The rest of the film, all of those scenes flashbacks, takes place in New York, several World Trade Center shots reminding us of what that skyline used to look like.
The architect, Philip, is unhappily married to his stage actress wife, Antonia (Gena Rowlands), who for her part is having an affair with Philip's last boss, Alonzo (Vittorio Gassman). Since Miranda the daughter hates Alonzo, she goes with her father to Athens where they meet, by chance, Aretha (Sarandon). Wanting to flee from Alonzo and his entourage (including Antonia) coming to Greece to find him so that he'll maybe get back to work on building Alonzo's Atlantic City casino, he goes to a remote Aegean island where Kalibanos (Julia) tends his goats and plays the clarinet, acting mostly like a nutcase.
Kalibanos likes the look of fifteen year old Miranda. Molly Ringwald, acting with great poise and energy in her first film, already a major star though unknown, fends off the dirty lunatic's advances. He lives in a cave, owns a twelve inch screen TV set. Miranda, like Aretha, is tired after several months of living on the island. What started out as paradise has become boring to the teenager, and Aretha has grown weary of Philip's mad obsessions as well as his wanting to be celibate. He tries to restore an ancient theater, putting his daughter, girlfriend, and Kalibanos to work. They all must follow his desire to get projects done, but nothing gets done. He behaves at times like a manic-depressive.
When Alonzo and Antonia finally come calling, their motorboat gets overturned in a sudden tempest seemingly conjured by the Lord of the Island, Philip, acting the part of Prospero, the magician in Shakespeare's play.
Miranda meets up with Alonzo's handsome son, Philip reconciles with his wife, the family returns to that other island, Manhattan.
The film's atmosphere, its beautiful sunny location, the rocks and buildings, the funny goats, the beaches, the water, all make the movie worth watching. Ringwald is great, Gena Rowlands is solid, Gassman is funny as a hypochondriac who always has his doctor with him along with his favorite (terrible) comedian. Sarandon is luscious throughout the film, suntanned and just fucking beautiful.
The film's best performance is the lead played by John Cassavetes, maker himself of numerous films, all of them characterized by superlative acting. He's one of the great twentieth century film actors; I'm in awe of what he could do, as for instance in this film he portrays a flawed man of great accomplishments, perpetually dissatisfied, as if reality fails him.
Paul Mazursky's willingness to dive into magical realism during the film's fantastic scenes, the tempest set piece in particular, made him a brave director, one able to confidently present material off base from what viewers normally regard as a contemporary drama. Much of the film has a realistic feel, but it's like we're shown what the characters want--mental states depicted cinematically. This sets the movie into a world of its own, yet it's familiar to anyone who's read Shakespeare's play. I haven't read it, but I'm good at learning stories, fictional and non-fictional, by a kind of osmosis.
Vic Neptune
Paul Mazursky's Tempest (1982) borrows from Shakespeare's play, taking place mostly on a Greek island, with a cranky retired architect (John Cassavetes), his teenage daughter (Molly Ringwald), and his girlfriend (Susan Sarandon), playing roles reflected in the seventeenth century comedy. Raul Julia plays a character based on Caliban. The rest of the film, all of those scenes flashbacks, takes place in New York, several World Trade Center shots reminding us of what that skyline used to look like.
The architect, Philip, is unhappily married to his stage actress wife, Antonia (Gena Rowlands), who for her part is having an affair with Philip's last boss, Alonzo (Vittorio Gassman). Since Miranda the daughter hates Alonzo, she goes with her father to Athens where they meet, by chance, Aretha (Sarandon). Wanting to flee from Alonzo and his entourage (including Antonia) coming to Greece to find him so that he'll maybe get back to work on building Alonzo's Atlantic City casino, he goes to a remote Aegean island where Kalibanos (Julia) tends his goats and plays the clarinet, acting mostly like a nutcase.
Kalibanos likes the look of fifteen year old Miranda. Molly Ringwald, acting with great poise and energy in her first film, already a major star though unknown, fends off the dirty lunatic's advances. He lives in a cave, owns a twelve inch screen TV set. Miranda, like Aretha, is tired after several months of living on the island. What started out as paradise has become boring to the teenager, and Aretha has grown weary of Philip's mad obsessions as well as his wanting to be celibate. He tries to restore an ancient theater, putting his daughter, girlfriend, and Kalibanos to work. They all must follow his desire to get projects done, but nothing gets done. He behaves at times like a manic-depressive.
When Alonzo and Antonia finally come calling, their motorboat gets overturned in a sudden tempest seemingly conjured by the Lord of the Island, Philip, acting the part of Prospero, the magician in Shakespeare's play.
Miranda meets up with Alonzo's handsome son, Philip reconciles with his wife, the family returns to that other island, Manhattan.
The film's atmosphere, its beautiful sunny location, the rocks and buildings, the funny goats, the beaches, the water, all make the movie worth watching. Ringwald is great, Gena Rowlands is solid, Gassman is funny as a hypochondriac who always has his doctor with him along with his favorite (terrible) comedian. Sarandon is luscious throughout the film, suntanned and just fucking beautiful.
The film's best performance is the lead played by John Cassavetes, maker himself of numerous films, all of them characterized by superlative acting. He's one of the great twentieth century film actors; I'm in awe of what he could do, as for instance in this film he portrays a flawed man of great accomplishments, perpetually dissatisfied, as if reality fails him.
Paul Mazursky's willingness to dive into magical realism during the film's fantastic scenes, the tempest set piece in particular, made him a brave director, one able to confidently present material off base from what viewers normally regard as a contemporary drama. Much of the film has a realistic feel, but it's like we're shown what the characters want--mental states depicted cinematically. This sets the movie into a world of its own, yet it's familiar to anyone who's read Shakespeare's play. I haven't read it, but I'm good at learning stories, fictional and non-fictional, by a kind of osmosis.
Vic Neptune
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