Title: Purple Rain
Release Date: July 27, 1984
Director: Albert Magnoli
Production Company: Purple Films
Summary/Review:
Omigod!!!! The music!!! It is so good!!!
Omigod!!!! The acting!!! It is so bad!!!
Luckily Purple Rain is like 80% music. Even some major plot points take place in montage under one of Prince’s great tunes. The movie is Prince’s acting debut as The Kid, a troubled young performer at Minneapolis’ legendary First Avenue night club. His father (Clarence Williams III) is a failed musician who abuses him and his mother (Olga Karlatos). Members of The Kid’s band The Revolution, Wendy (Wendy Melvoin) and Lisa (Lisa Coleman) are disgruntled about not being able to contribute their own songwriting. Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero) is an aspiring performer new to town who falls for The Kid, despite all the red flags he gives off. Meanwhile, Morris (Morris E. Day), leader of the rival band The Time, is scheming to get a girl group to take The Revolution’s spot at First Avenue, and targeting Apollonia to lead it.
The plot does touch upon some important issues that might have been developed in a better script. I’m curious as to how autobiographical this movie really is, because Prince strikes me as a very private person (Prince’s father was a musician, and Prince had a troubled relationship with his stepfather, so maybe he just combined them?). The point of this movie though is the electrifying performances by The Revolution, The Time, and even Appolonia 6. And it is a cathartic moment when The Kid finally has the band play Wendy and Lisa’s composition despite it being implausibly perfect without any rehearsals.
I watched this at The Brattle Theatre as part of the Prince Birthday Bash and the theater’s new sound system is fantastic for experiencing all of that great Prince music!
Rating: ***
Panorama of the Mountains 