Trailer For Taymor's TEMPEST Arrives.

It's a curious thing, the trailer for Julie Taymor's The Tempest. On one hand, the visuals are frequently stunning and it's obvious that Taymor has lost none of her visual style. But despite the visuals it often seems to labor to feel like cinema rather than stage and that comes as a surprise. And no doubt making that problem all the more apparent is the fact that the trailer was cut by someone who clearly has ZERO faith in the audience to be familiar with the story or interested in it in the slightest unless they are first bashed on the head by a great big stick labeled THIS IS WHAT THE MOVIE IS ABOUT with each of the marketing points given their own convenient compartment within the trailer.

I've seen The Tempest performed a few times. I like it. Not my favorite Shakespeare but a very good one. And Taymor always brings a certain vitality to things that makes her work worthwhile, even if this doesn't appear to be her strongest stuff. But that said, this is a really bad trailer that I feel vaguely insulted by.