Tempest | John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands

Tempest | John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands | One of the Great Movies

DVDs:

Tempest

	Tempest John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands Sony Pictures, 2007 average customer review:based on 35 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

This modernistic fantasy-drama is about a New York architect Phillip (John Cassavetes) who is fedup with city living. He takes his wife Antonia (Gena Rowlands) an actress and their daughter Miranda (Molly Ringwald in her debut) to Greece to a barren island. There he meets a singer and a hermit and others who land on the island when the boat is shipwrecked.System Requirements:Runtime: 142 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 043396076518 Manufacturer No: 07651

Subtle hilarity!

Set on a beautiful Greek Island, this somewhat surreal plotline is the perfect vehicle for outstanding performances by John Cassavetes and Raul Julia.

for more information click here

One of the Great Movies

In the early 80's I read a glowing review of this film in Rolling Stone Magazine. Since it promised Susan Sarandon (who I only new as Janet Weiss from Rocky Horror) in a bathing suit, it made the must see list. I saw it with a date in a Gainesville, Fla movie house that actually served beer by the pitcher. The second pitcher was empty just about the same time the goats began flying overhead in time to Liza Minelli's rendition of "New York, New York", and I realized I was watching something special.
Flash forward 20 odd years. I'm middle-aged myself, I've read Shakespear's The Tempest a half dozen times and have seen it on stage and in the theatre in numerous renditions, and Susan Sarandon, Molly Ringwold, and Raul Julia are now household names. The movie is out on DVD and I have watched it three times in the past three nights.
Even without the beer, I can honestly say this is a great, though overlooked movie. The acting is first rate. The production is wonderful. And the Script is VERY smart.
I think you need some familiarity with The Bard's version of The Tempest to really appreciate this movie. Sheakespeare wrote of and in a time of witches and faries and spirits. To make this movie work, the screenwriter (Mazurski) had to translate these creatures and characters into modern-day creations. The "Monster" Calaban, becomes Raul Julia's Calabano, a modern day "monster" who lusts after little girls, but settles for livestock. Prospero the Magician is transformed into a middle aged architect who in his crazziness believes he can control the weather and perhaps can. The King himself becomes the CEO of a Company and his court is transformed into an entourage of a lawyer, a doctor, and a stand-up comedian.. Ariel the Fairy, is Aretha, Susan Sarandon's character, a middleeastern night club singer from New Jersey who, like Ariel in the original, loves and hates and is imprisoned by and fails to consumate her love with Prospero.
The action swings back and forth between a greek island and the Island of Manhattan. This is the 1980s. New York is not very pretty. The World Trade Center is front and center. Atlantic City is under construction. Against this backdrop, the Actors act and sing and dance and have a good time.
Read The Tempest and then see this movie.
I can picture Sheakespeare smiling while watching this version of his play.

for more information click here

Tempest DVD

We received this item in the time expected, and our son was very happy with it.

Rambling, occasionally interesting

In this loose (emphasis on loose, for sure) adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, John Cassevetes takes on the Prospero role for all it's worth and delivers a piercing performance as Philip Demetrios, successful architect with a failed marriage. He moves with his daughter Miranda (Molly Ringwald in her first film appearance) to a Greek island where he meets the beautiful Aretha Tomalin (Susan Sarandon in the Ariel role) and promptly hooks up with her, as they say.

On hand as well is Raul Julia as Calibanos, a goatherd who exhibits one of the more representative characteristics of "goatness", namely, lust, but also evokes Zorba in his dancing, his use of the term "boss" to refer to Phil, and other stuff; he's utterly convincing as a Greek native. His name is the obvious link to the Shakespeare character.

At 140 minutes, this does tend to ramble in a number of places. But Cassevetes, Sarandon, and Julia are strong enough actors to carry it and make it shine in more places than it rambles. Cassevetes' real-life wife Gena Rowlands is also here as his movie wife; their marriage breaks up, the impetus for his flight to Greece. Rowlands is also very good, as is Vittorio Gassman as Rowlands' new lover--who, as it turns out, is Phil's boss in New York City before Phil's departure. The director, Paul Mazursky, shows up as a movie producer (big stretch...).

If you don't mind a laid back script that lets the characters talk about a lot of stuff that is not necessarily punchy, then this is the movie for you. It's not bad, but in my opinion, could have been tightened up by at least 20 minutes, more like half an hour. Not bad at all--but not great.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

products you might be interested in