Tempest

If anything, Paul Mazursky's Tempest is even more awkward today than when it received mixed reviews 25 years ago. In attempting to turn Shakespeare's final play, The Tempest, into a contemporary intellectual analysis of his own midlife crisis, Mazursky went for critical street-cred (by casting husband-and-wife John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands) but ended up with a pretentious and almost entirely uninvolving act of navel-gazing disguised as a vacation getaway. Cassavetes (always better off making his own films than acting for others) plays Phillip, a big-ticket architect with a souring marriage (to Antonia, played by Rowlands) and a desperate need to break the routine of his comfortable life. So Phillip splits for paradise—taking his teenaged daughter (Molly Ringwald) along for the experience—settling on a tiny island in the Aegean Sea, where he falls in love with a free-spirited singer named Aretha (played by sexy Susan Sarandon), and the local goatherd Kalibanos (Raul Julia) adds a touch of humor. Parallels to Shakespeare are of little importance (compared, say, to the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet, also inspired by The Tempest), and at nearly two-and-a-half hours the whole thing becomes a bit of an ordeal. Still, Tempest is pretty to look at, Cassavetes and Rowlands are great when they're onscreen together, and Ringwald (in her movie debut) was deservedly hailed as a bright newcomer. Aside from that, Tempest—presented here on an extra-less disc—is just another dose of self-absorbed indulgence from Mazursky. Not recommended. (J. Shannon)