Word: phillipics
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Ringwald, in her major film debut, gives Tempest's most believable performance as a teenager struggling to establish her own identity stuck on a rock in the middle of the Mediterranean in an intentional parallel to Phillip's own search. When she tells an admiring Sam Robards. "I'm not exactly beautiful, besides. I'm a virgin," it is pure adolescent poetry...
...heads for the Mediterranean homeland of his fathers. Along the way, he picks up an oversized wanderer named Aretha (Susan Sarandon) whose greatest claim is her ability to sing Jewish folk songs in both Hebrew and Greek. By the end of his 18-month trek, and Mazursky's film. Phillip seemingly reclaims himself. Alas, he does so by means unrevealed to the movie's audience, who watch him sitting contented in his comfortable Manhattan apartment and wonder exactly what all the fuss was about...
...result is unclear, and the problems may rise from the confusingly complete identification Mazursky has with Phillip. He almost mockingly cast John Cassavetes, a fellow filmmaker known for his cinema verity, in the role, while admitting that he first visualized Phillip as a Jewish American like himself. A New Year's Eve party Phillip anticipates will be "dull, pretentious and nervous" appears to parrot Mazursky's dislike of Hollywood tinsel. And when in an interview he says. "America has become kind of decadent; a lot of things have been too easy," he echoes his own screenplay of Phillip castigating Antonia...
...course of the film, this association between Mazursky and his character runs amok. The most obvious result is the film's length, an unwieldy and tedious two hours and 20 minutes. Much of the time is dominated by plodding and ponderous soliloquies by Phillip or, worse still, supposedly meaningful glances. By the film's end, as Dinah Washington croons she "will turn Manhattan into an isle of joy," and Cassavetes takes a final knowing glance at the City's skyline, one wonders what made such an ugly point of departure such a desirable destination. Mazursky seemingly knows...
TEMPEST IS BEST in its simplest moments. Cinematographer Don McAlpine's opening shots of the stark geography of Phillip's island do more than just stir a feeling of wonder--they wrench it from deep down inside, ably abetted by Stomu Yamashita's eerie, haunting score, Miranda (Molly Ringwald) and Aretha provide welcome lightness with their a capella renditions of the pop tune. "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?," a protest of the harsh conditions of their voluntary captivity. As the island's actual inhabitant. Raul Julia as Kalibanos is a nearly perfect primitive, adoring his goats and his Sony...