| TAFKAP (The Artist Formerly Known As Prince) puts out a film that is the bomb all over the place. I'm going to blow the story line, so you may just want to scroll down to read about my interpretation of the specks of this DVD.... Sure hair is big & sometimes combed waaaay against it's natural growth pattern (thankfully not by the leads), make-up is obviously experimental, heavy & caked on, and neon lights are all over the place. The `80s, baby. Fashion experimen~~TAAAL. But the songs play raw to you. Performances rip vibrant & hearty, and the songs have artistic shape that change melody and harmony, and the film editing keeps the energy's inertia flowing. TAFKAP give you everything. A born performer and artist with voltage. Much of the music knocks the stereotypes of his music, it LACKS intense layers of synths (there are some). Instead, passionate vocals, hard rock guitars (much more wild & reckless in the movie than on the soundtrack), bass guitar, and tight and exciting drums drive hard! It's great! |
| After my indulgent gushing above, now I need to say that this movie has a great story line. This movie is really about what being an artist is all about, in my mind. Music or otherwise. A sacrifice to share varying parts of your life, your soul and your imagination. Bringing those elements together to express them in their own creation (designed by you, the artist) in an effort to touch an audience's heart. Hopefully in an inspiring sense. Purple Rain does this. Albeit with A LOT of it's own style and passion. |
| TAFKAP stars as the "Kid," a performer at a hot club on the corner of a bustling corner downtown in Minneapolis. He has a smooth talking (fellow performing) competitor, Morris, who is jealous and wants his ass kicked out of this spirited club. He talks the owner of the club into kicking the Kid out. You gotta realize, this is the "Kid's" LIFE. No question this is what he was born to do. Perform. The crowds love him. But the owner somehow is getting it in his mind that the Kid is too into his own music and others don't understand it, and it's all sickening, and, bottom line, he's losing business. |
| A beautiful young woman (Appolonia) comes into town and wants to become a performer. The fellow competitor is very attracted to her, yet she and the "Kid" have eyes for each other. Appolonia is gorgeous, feminine, and tough when she has to be. The Kid lives at home in a separate place on his folks' property. Yet, the Kid is learning a few bad habits from his father.... His parents fight viciously. It's painful stark contrast to the truck loads of glitter of the downtown club. The performances are halting, as TAFKAP comes home still in his stage clothes and breaks up fights.
Meanwhile, Appolonia gets a gig going (at the inspiration of his competitor, Morris), and this may move the Kid out. The kid is jealous and confused and they fight and he kind of loses her. The owner and the Kid are fighting and the owner is threatening to kick the kid out of his club. |
 (Wendy has a great scene here. It would be great to see her in other movies; she has texture in her presence. + Whatever happened to Jerome Benton besides still performing with The Time, who played Morris's sidekick guy - he was GREAT - it would be great to see him in more film, as well!) | As things get worse, the Kid's band is heating up with friction. Some members really want him to just hear a song. He doesn't, in an understatement of fear; which they resent, "We're not out to hurt you!" Things get worse.
Later, he's driving home to find his mother crying on a curb close to their house, then he charges home to confront his father (powerfully played by Clarence Williams III), and oddly finds him playing the piano with haunting melancholy. What? `Didn't know he could play. They have tense little talk, and even in a moment when TAFKAP begins to speak kindly to his father, his father quickly cuts him down. Then his father shoots himself, left in critical condition. The kid is questioned by police and very briefly thinks about killing his own self. He explodes in a fury and tears the room apart. And after a bit he is throwing papers around, he notices what the papers are. They are his father's music. Music his father created. He takes some to the piano close by and plays just a little.... |
| Losing his girlfriend whom he feels still wants him, virtually losing his father, losing his ability to play at a happening club, his band members losing faith in him married with resentment of his paranoia....
About to lose everything with everyone against him, the "Kid" pulls together his father's music, + the new music his band members asked him to hear (Wendy & Lisa), and his own imagination into an artistic collage and sings, "Purple Rain," with all of his being, hoping to change everyone's mind to enjoy his music. And it's a ballad - not exactly a club song. To me, something like that taps into what true artistry is about: compassion, character, passion and inventive sharing hoping to inspire. I was impressed with that after I saw it years ago, and it still is terrific today. |
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Picture
I believe this was one of the first films to be released on DVD. Warner has done a so so job. Sure it looks better on DVD than ANY other medium at this point in time. But the audience of DVD is WIDESCREEN and this is in Pan and Scan. What's up with that? Sure there were artifacts (scratches in the movie) that needed to be cleaned up, and sometimes the picture didn't seem framed very well, but sometimes it did. Why not re master this film?? It's a terrific film. Oh well. Flesh tones looked terrific, and the colors in the cinematography were great if a touch grainy sometimes. Lots of reds, blues and of course the famous bluish-purples. |
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Sound
The sound is remixed to Dolby Digital 5.1 It's terrific. My system misses some of the mid range frequencies, but the bass woofer gets a military pounding, and there is surefire definition in guitar solos, motorcycle peel outs and the first, crisp crunch of a throbbing drum. The highs sometimes seemed a little exaggerated sometimes. Separation of the rear surrounds? Yes. Not often, but a few times with the Harley, and other ambient sounds opens up your viewing room to Purple Rain's environment. Music just seemed more open, and at times quite live. However, the CD sound track is a bit more natural sounding, I must say. Well, not sure, I'd have to really compare and haven't done that. This is a fun movie. Purple Rain the song won an Oscar, too. I'll back down and say, you just gotta like TAFKAP at least a little to enjoy the whole thing. If not you probably wont like it, and figure he's too indulgent. But he's where it's at when it comes to a person creating music to share, I think. This DVD also has a nice selection of production notes that talk about the beginnings of the creation of the movie and how it evolved. It's a good movie and creates it's own presence all the way around. |
