Funny story, readers. I had the better part of a Movie Crush Monday post written following Alfred Molina from Raiders of the Lost Ark over to Chocolat, one of my favorite movies of all time, when it hit me. This felt familiar. So I looked, and sure enough in the first year that we had the blog I'd already written a post Chocolat. Such is my love for that film. But rules are rules, readers, and the rules say we can't cover a movie twice. So instead we're going to follow Mr. Molina to a truly bananas little film that I just love.
Julie Taymor is one of those directors that I wouldn't say that I love. I think actually that she has a hard time with restraint, knowing when to pull back in order to better serve the story. However, that exact lack of restraint makes for some of the most visually stunning films we have. She's willing to push the boundaries of what's realistic on film and the result is always gorgeous.
In her 2010 adaptation of The Tempest, Taymor makes some truly bold choices as a director, and I do respect the hell out of that. The first thing she did was change Prospero to Prospera and cast Helen Mirren, which might actually make the list of best choices ever made in the history of choices. The rest of the cast is no less interesting and fantastic. Reeve Carney, Alan Cumming, Russell Brand, Ben Wishaw- it's a who's who of British actors that I would watch do anything. Anything.
And then we have to talk about the visuals in a little more detail, because holy cannoli, this stuff is the business. Taymor shoots using scale and angle in a beautiful way. And in this film, the art direction works alongside the cinematography to bring the fantasy world of Shakespeare's play to life.
And let's be honest- it's worth writing the post just to have the time to choose images to share. For reals. Look at that.
Happy Watching!
CT
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