Stormy Weather

I acquired a few DVDs early in the year, nearly all Shakespeare-related, and I'm now trying to get round to viewing them. Today I watched the second half of Julie Taymor's screen version of The Tempest starring Helen Mirren and featuring a very strong cast, having watched the first half a few days back. Of course, that's not exactly the best way to watch any movie and I felt I hadn't done real justice to this one, although overall I enjoyed it. I found myself taking the special effects a bit for granted, which wasn't very fair as it's, as you might expect coming from Ms Taymor, a visual delight.

I thought the scenes featuring Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano were excellent, even enjoying Russell Brand's performance as the jester. But on first viewing I couldn't get my head around the idea of a female Prospero, even though Helen Mirren was predictably excellent. That's unusual for me as I'm no purist when it comes to the Bard on stage or screen, but for some reason the concept didn't work for me - perhaps because I'm sort of playing the role myself in my head as I watch and can't surrender my expectations.

I've got a feeling, however, that on a second viewing I'm going to be able to enter into the spirit of the production, partly as a result of viewing the accompanying documentary on the making of the film. It's a funny thing with me but whenever I'm exposed to explicit authorial intent I find myself able to defer to what was intended.