mistymountain Adriano Celentano gives a pretty fair performance as the unknown turned overnight sensational modern day messiah Joan Lui. This is another musical he wrote, produced, and directed a decade after Yuppi Du. Claudia Mori, his real wife, appears in the film as communist reporter, Tina Foster. The movie has plenty of singing and dancing, as well as anti-American propaganda in the second half of the film. I kept thinking i was watching Jesus Christ Superstar thru most of this film, since there's some scenes referencing to the breaking of bread and crucifixion of Christ. But after Lui's shot, you think he's dead..until he slowly gets up and then he turns to Superman, and just stands there even as shots are being fired at him. I have a lot of respect for Celentano as a singer and actor, but feel he could have done this film much better.

MARIO GAUCI Many an Italian pop singer dabbled in cinema (there was something of a boom in the 1960s, though few if any seemed to cater beyond their strictest fan-base) but, past that initial phase, Adriano Celentano harbored ambitions to make his own films (writing, directing, obviously scoring and even editing his own material!). Curiously enough, I came across 4 of his vehicles practically simultaneously: 2 of which were helmed by notable directors, Pietro Germi's SERAFINO (1968) and Pasquale Festa Campanile's RUGANTINO (1973), and a couple more – the picture under review and the earlier YUPPI DU (1975; which has recently been re-edited and shown at the last Venice Film Festival!) – he made himself. This oddly-named movie (the long title translating to JOAN HIM – BUT ONE DAY IN THE COUNTRY I WILL ARRIVE ON A Monday!) is actually the first I watched of them – included in my epic/religious marathon due to its Christ allegory. The star, of course, is the Messiah figure who, as a sign of the times (though hardly an original concept: see Peter Watkins' PRIVILEGE [1967]), imparts his message – after the preliminary consternation – via the established media of our age. Even so, unless one understands the phenomenon – which endures to this day – of the wiry Celentano himself (a combination of quasi-neanderthal features and an equally distinctive raspy voice), one may well end up baffled by this whole self-indulgent enterprise…especially since the character is never seen to do much of anything (for instance, he monopolizes the airwaves, consequently notching up record TV ratings, but ends up making just a split-second silent appearance!). The songs are typical 1980s electro-pop but still bearing the star's particular signature, especially the number performed in a discotheque named "The Temple" sporting deliberately gibberish lyrics set to a catchy rhythm! A still attractive Claudia Mori (Celentano's real-life wife) is featured as a Communist female reporter, Marthe Keller plays his long-suffering agent and the character of a chauffeur-turned-assistant is played by the bespectacled (and most prominent) member of a stand-up comic trio dubbed "I Tre Tre". Of course, within such a framework, there also has to be a corresponding figure of evil – represented here, albeit not too convincingly, by an Asian crime boss: actually, he first appears as a lame person cured by Joan Lui at the aforementioned disco, subsequently kidnaps the singer along with his two closest collaborators to his vast estate (before whom they even get to sing and dance!), has a penchant for speaking in Celentano's own voice (to mirror the dual nature of a man's soul) and is ultimately metamorphosed into a snake (a creepily effective scene) at the Armageddon-type climax. While I cannot say that the film has made me want to rush into checking out the star's other work, being more interesting for what it attempted to do than the uneven achievement in itself, there is no denying that it is arresting in spots (thanks to the kinetic editing style and the odd surreal image like the nightmare sequence featuring a cross-bearing, long-haired and bearded Celentano!) and the star's own magnetic/enigmatic personality is still enough of an incentive for one to keep watching.

p-gibellini Every movie is a self-celebration of the director and of the actors... but we could enjoying while seeing it!This movie is interesting for both plan and soundtrack. The plan of the movie is perhaps awkward, but original and involving. Some scenes are a bit apocalyptic, and in my opinion this is a precursory movie. The cast is plenty of very good (even if not so well-known) actors.Like the other all-Celentano movie (Yuppy Du), Joan Lui is full of crudely realistic scenes, not intended for an audience of young people, but the concepts of the movie are enough to stimulate the spectators to think.

max_brain Whoa! I've seen this movie in TV as an adolescent, and I got shocked. I've seen it again some months ago, and now I feel shocked... for the opposite reason. I say, under a hood of disturbing scenes (a train cart full of aborted babies, a girl forced to get drugs, a birthday cake with used syrings for candles...), there is a pathetic remake of the life of jesus in the modern age... with gospel quotes too, cheap morality about prostitution, drug and ecology, and a demagogic monologue about corruption and political parties in the scene of the "longinius laser spear". As a boy I found it interesting. As an adult, I realized the movie was just a self-celebration of the director, Adriano Celentano.Come on, if this movie was sponsored (as many Italian movies) by the State, it was for sure an horrible way to waste Italian taxpayers' money.BTW, Does the Gospel say Satan is japanese?