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Since the dawn of celluloid, directors have striven to put Shakespeare onscreen, ranging from the traditional such as Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V to the Samurai spectacular of Akira Kurosawa’s practically perfect final masterpiece Ran. The Tempest itself has ventured into the depths of space with the wonderful Forbidden Planet, all of which means that any new version has its work cut out to separate itself from the crowd, though as this version comes from the director of the bloodthirsty and brutal Titus, this should not be much of a problem.
As cinematic adaptations go, though, the film differs little from the original text maintaining the language, setting and practically everything else. The only noticeable alteration being the decision to turn Prospero into the female Prosper in order to cast Helen Mirren, which to be honest is not a bad decision. She delivers a good performance as the ruler of the mystical isle, effectively carrying the film with one of film’s two good performances, the other belonging to Djimon Hounsou whose strange Caliban manages to arrest our attention throughout, although this may be partly because he plays opposite Russell Brand who fails to convince to convince with the Shakespearean dialogue and simply is not funny or interesting. The rest of the cast, despite managing to tell the story, fail to connect with the audience on an emotional level, making it hard to care too much.
Where the film attempts to stand out though is from a directional point of view, as it’s overrun with strange images both beautiful and surreal that are great to look at. This proves to be both the film’s success and part of its downfall as, for all their inventiveness, they fail to take the play in anywhere near a new direction, instead just telling the old story in a way that’s interesting to look at. It also to a degree detracts from the theme of the play, as we become distracted waiting for the next exciting image to appear and at times, such as Ariel’s near constant running around, they seem to be there partly so the audience has something to watch. Furthermore, some aspects of the play just don’t translate well to the screen with the soliloquies and asides that make up the play seeming incongruous with the cinematic format as staring into the camera and delivering the lines lacks effect.
All in all the result is a very muddled piece that does not quite seem to know what it is doing, as it attempts on one hand to have dramatic leads such Helen Mirren for the main role, but it then places Russell Brand in another. It also seems to delight in fascinating visuals over the wonders of the play’s script (that thankfully remains intact) and the actor’s performances and, unlike Titus, lacks a strong thematic core. Yet, as a faithful relatively adaptation of the play, this version of The Tempest is fine and never bores or loses our interest. In the end, it just suffers from being rather forgettable.
See The Tempest at City Screen, York. Check out the cinema's website for times and further details.
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