With Black Swan named as the opener, and Julie Taymor’s The Tempest now named as the 67th Venice Film Festival’s closer, I guess it’s safe to say that the selection this year might be rich if we compare the bookend titles to last year’s Baaria and last year’s closer, a Fruit Chan that didn’t make it to North American screens. Among the titles that TIFF (not Telluride) should be adding to their line-up, I had originally taken Taymor off my film festival radar once I learned that the Mickey Mouse ears weren’t packaging it along with the sale of Miramax. I guessed wrong. Update: Actually, I forgot that I had placed it as a TIFF item.
The Taymor title that took its sweet time in post production work – it’s being billed as a Shakespeare’s fantastical thriller with lots of expensive after-effects work. This is based on the tale of the magician Prospero, who orchestrates spirits, monsters, a grief-stricken king, a wise old councillor, two treacherous brothers and a storm at sea into a fantastical conspiracy bringing banishment, sorcery and shipwreck into the lives of two hapless lovers to stir and seal their fate. Here Prospero takes the female form as Prospera (Helen Mirren), giving her journey of vengeance and self-discovery a wholly new resonance. As Prospera breaks her magical staff against an entrancing volcanic landscape at the end of her heroic quest, this poignant story of love and forgiveness translates into a riveting and filmic mystical tale, for our own times.
Variety reminds us that Taymor had previously launched “Frida” (2002) in a comp slot. That was also a Miramax title.
