The sudden death of Prince last week has affected me much more than I would have ever expected. I was never what you might call a fan of his work, but maybe more of an admirer. I enjoyed seeing him perform at the Super Bowl. I found his interviews very interesting, and definitely felt like he had a prodigious talent.
So Saturday night, I was able to see a vehicle for that prodigious talent in 1984's 'Purple Rain'. This is by no means a great movie. The acting is over the top, the main story is fairly simple and definitely very 80's - bad guy is trying to push out the good guy, good guy must perform some Herculean task in the finale to defeat the bad guy's efforts, all underscored by a cat-and-mouse style love story. In this semi-autobiographical tale, The Kid (Prince) is a talented performer heading up his band, The Revolution, in Minneapolis' famed First Avenue nightclub. While he's definitely got the musical chops to be a great act, his ego and attitude alienate the club owner, his band mates, his rival (Morris Day and The Time) and his new lady friend Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero). Throughout the story, The Kid's music underlines the plot (especially When Doves Cry and Darling Nikki) and when he finally writes and then sings Purple Rain at the end, he is overcome by the power of all the emotions he's been trying to hold in check, and it comes out in a very moving performance.
As a film alone, it has lots of flaws, but as a vehicle to showcase Prince's talent, Purple Rain is amazing. When he's on stage (which is a lot of the time), he's absolutely magnetic, and it makes me regret never having seen him live. Darling Nikki is especially effective in showcasing his musical skills, raunchy lyrics, and dancing moves. It's a fun movie, silly most of the time, yet definitely has some really dark moments, and explores themes of emotional conflict in a particularly visceral way. I had a really good time with this movie.
FINAL SCORE - 7/10
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