Audience Member
Derek Jarman's The Tempest is a thrillingly bizarre adaptation of the Shakespeare play, opting for a minimalistic, insular production similar to his other work that works well given the fact that the story takes place entirely on an island. A father attempts to marry his daughter off in order to regain some of the social and monetary status he lost in recent years and in the process, he comes into contact with several strange characters who add some flair to what could've been a truly droll drama in the hands of the wrong director. As usual, Jarman's art decoration is impeccable, his signature dramatic lightening and cluttered rooms allowing for a more experimental and dream-like final product than what usually comes out of adaptations of Shakespeare's work. While it may not be one of his best films, but it's certainly one of his most fascinating.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/10/23
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Audience Member
Completely bizzare but amazing: genuinely influenced and enriched my understanding and enjoyment of one of my favourite Shakespeares. Entertaining and disturbing in a way I feel it is sometimes meant to be with so many unique ideas and images. Loved it.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
Full Review
Audience Member
And the fly returns.
Prospero has been banished to an island to live with his virgin daughter. His brother, the king of Naples, was the one who banished him. One inauspicious day the King's son becomes stranded on the island and the slave of Prospero. In the process, the king's son and Prospero's daughter fall in love. As Prospero tries to decide what to do about the couple, Prospero's servants are plotting to over throw him.
"This blue eyed hag was hither brought with child."
Derek Jarman, director of The Last of England, Aria, Edward II, Glitterburg, Blue, Caravaggio, The Garden, War Requiem, and The Angelic Conversation, delivers The Tempest. The storyline for this picture had potential but was delivered a bit too eccentric for my taste. The acting was over the top and the cast includes Karl Johnson, Peter Bull, and Toya Willcox.
"It's like is empty and all of the devils are here."
I DVR'd this picture off Turner Classic Movies (TCM) based on its interesting plot. This was nothing like I thought it would be. The idea of a story about a man and his daughter fighting for survival on an island sounded like it had potential; well, this was pretty awful. I'd skip this picture and I have no idea how it landed on TCM.
"Like a nymph from the sea."
Grade: D+
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
a very bizarre version of shakespeare
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Derek Jarman's take on Shakespeare's final classic is pictorially beautiful (shot in Stoneleigh Abbey and dressed like Robespierre) but somewhat impenetrable. Of course, this might be the Bard's poetics but, as with Greenaway's later riff on this and the play, things are anything but direct and straightforward. These films also share scads of full frontal male nudity (and here also in the buff, Toyah Willcox, last seen in Urgh! A Music War). The final musical send-off seems to echo Fassbinder's similar joy in genre-bending and is similarly a non sequitur (I'm thinking of 1978's In a Year of 13 Moons, I think.).
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
Full Review
Audience Member
An avant-garde adaptation of Shakespeare's fantasy "The Tempest," set almost entirely inside an abandoned English manor. A fascinating production that manages to be true to the Bard's text while adding a number of baroque surprises: Gothic horror atmosphere, bizarre costumes, lots of nudity, hallucination scenes, and even a musical number with a jazz chanteuse singing "Stormy Weather" while a chorus of sailors do a Busby Berkeley dance number.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/08/23
Full Review
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