Lee Eisenberg Prince's death last year made me realize that I didn't know much of his work (in fact, I first learned of him during the period when he used a glyph as his name). I only now got around to watching "Purple Rain". What a show! The plot is routine - a man trying to make something of himself in show biz - but the music is to die for. There are a couple of scenes that are probably in there for comic relief (such as the scene by the lake), but most of everything helps move along the story.Like "8 Mile" for Eminem, this is a semi-autobiographical story for Prince. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a masterpiece, but I had a good time watching it. The soundtrack and clothing scream 1980s. Really good time.Prince and Muhammad Ali died less than two months apart, and on the internet I saw a photo of them together, captioned SERIOUSLY, F**K 2016. Sometimes it seems as though the people who died last year (aside from the aforementioned ones, there were David Bowie, Patty Duke, Gene Wilder, Florence Henderson, Fidel Castro, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds) were the lucky ones: they didn't have to experience the freak show that is the Trump era.

Jackson Booth-Millard 2016 was one of the worst years for celebrity deaths, especially for musicians, including David Bowie, Leonard Cohen and George Michael, Prince Rogers Nelson was one of the biggest shock deaths, he was a brilliant singer-songwriter, and I had to see if he could act, in his most famous foray into film, a virtual biographical one, directed by Albert Magnoli (Prince music videos "Scandalous" and "Batdance"). Basically in Minneapolis "The Kid" (Prince) is the talented but troubled front man of his band The Revolution, he lives at home with his verbally and physically abusive Father (Clarence Williams III) and his emotionally abusive Mother (Olga Karlatos). The Kid spends his days rehearsing and his nights performing at the First Avenue nightclub to escape the abuse. One night the three house band slots are held by The Revolution, flashy Morris (Morris Day) with his group The Time, and Dez Dickerson with his group The Modernaires. Morris finds out the Kid is unwilling to the play the compositions The Revolution's guitarist Wendy (Wendy Melvoin) and keyboardist Lisa (Lisa Coleman), which frustrates them, Morris lobbies the nightclub's owner Billy (Billy Sparks) to have The Revolution replaced by a girl group that Morris is already forming. Morris targets new arrival in Minneapolis, aspiring singer and the Kid's girlfriend Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero), to lead his group, she convinces her the Kid is too focused on himself to help her, she joins Morris's group, named Apollonia 6, the Kid is angry with this partnership and slaps her. At the club, the band are conflicting with the pressure to draw more crowds, then the Kid publicly humiliates Apollonia with his performance of uncomfortably personal song "Darling Nikki", Apollonia runs off in tears, and Morris and Billy are angry. Billy confronts the Kid, criticising him for bringing his personal life onto the stage and warning him he is wasting his musical talent like his father did. Apollonia 6 make a successful debut, Billy warns the Kid that his First Avenue slot is at risk, he and a drunken Morris argue and fight, Apollonia leaves in anger. The Kids returns home, he finds the place wrecked, he cannot find his mother, he goes down to the basement, where his father has shot himself in the head, he releases his anger tearing the place apart. During his rampage, the Kid finds a large box containing his father's musical compositions, this opens the Kid's mind up to listening to Wendy and Lisa's compositions, he listens to a cassette with a rhythm track named "Slow Groove", he begins to compose. That night at First Avenue, The Time stop by the Revolution's dressing room to taunt the Kid about his family life, once on stage, the Kid announces that he will be playing "a song the girls in the band wrote", dedicated to his father, this is "Purple Rain". The emotional song ends, the Kid walks off stage to the back door, he intends to ride off on his motorcycle, however he realises the crowd are thrilled with his new song. The Kid returns to the club, greeted by the approval of his fellow musicians, and the teary Apollonia is watching in the audience, he plays two encores with The Revolution, and the crowd goes wild. The end of the film sees the Kid visiting his mother and father in hospital, returning to the basement to sort his father's compositions, accompanied by Apollonia, and a montage of songs play as the credits roll. Also starring Jerome Benton as Jerome, Jill Jones as Jill, Charles Huntsberry as Chick, Brenda Bennett as Brenda, Susan Moonsie as Susan and Kim Upsher as Kim. The pint-sized rock star is pretty much the only actor worth mentioning, although Day is charismatic, and Aollonia is beautiful and talented. It is a very predictable story of a talented young man trying to find his way, and the script is daft at times, but the soundtrack is splendid, with the title song, "I Would Die 4 U", and the Oscar winning and Golden Globe nominated "When Doves Cry", all in all, not a bad musical drama. Worth watching!

Bob An Well, of course, I am reviewing the film after the death of Prince and while the whole world is in shock and in search of his genius... so many will see this film - I am sure, for the first time - just like me.The film as a film is really nothing extraordinary. It is really Prince and music that make it really great. Now, after watching it, two things became clear to me: the reason why the videos for songs were as they were - they are actually part of the film and second one - I can now better understand the song Purple Rain. After the film and after watching it 'into the concept ' it makes more sense to me.I liked the colors in the movie. Very flamboyant, very 80's. The fashion, the music, the style... it all seems like a party. It all seems fun and that's what I liked the most about the movie. Although there is an underlying tragic story, the movie is fan for me. I am not sure whether they were all serious with the film. Maybe early 80's were just like that: a bit crazy and over the top... so the acting was kinda ... hmmm ... nonchalant. But, again, it is a music film, so ... Eight from me.

MisterWhiplash If you're ever come across (the now tragically late and only sometimes formerly known as) Prince, you have to come to Purple Rain. It's not simply that it's inevitable, it's among his signature work; it's a pop album, but it's not you're garden variety collection of 4-time tempo songs. If anything "When the Doves Cry" is a more minimalist type of song, not quite a ballad but not very fast either, as the song has a simple track of keyboard laid over a drum beat that you can dance to but it also leaves you in a kind of bittersweet trance. Then of course comes the hook, and it's here that it takes on an iconic, gets-in-your-head quality.That song is maybe the most Music-Video-y of anything in the Purple Rain film, as it comes about midway through the movie and reflects Prince - aka "The Kid" but he's just Prince really - at a moment when he is uncertain of what to do as he's done the wrong thing by the woman who should be his love, Apollonia, and he still has the same strife at home going on with his parents. So he gets on his motorcycle and... we just see some clips from the previous scenes (including a, uh, sex scene in a barn which wasn't seen before) mixed in with Prince motoring around.What does this have to do with anything? Well, there needs to be some time where The Kid broods and ponders, right? Actually there is quite a lot of that in Purple Rain. This was a movie-viewing where I had two reactions: as I was watching it, in the theater (and in the front row no less, it's only 2 days after the man's passing with a special series after all), I really enjoyed it and even got into the melodramatic - and I emphasize *dramatic* - story of how The Kid, with his group The Revolution, try to make it at a local club in Minnesota and face ups and downs while up against groups like Morris Day & The Time.But when I left the movie I started to think a little more about what I saw, the story of it, and felt like it was missing things that could've made the narrative stronger. We see Prince's parents (the father played by the awesome Clarence Williams III, you've seen him before but not this intense I don't think), and yet we never really know the mother - she's basically a placeholder, and meant as a simplistic victim of the father's abuse. Williams actually gets a little more depth, as a failed(?) musician who never quite made it and is in constant turmoil over his marriage (he even warns his boy over it). What brought this couple together? What's the attraction? Of course they're supporting characters, but it's superficial drama and over-simplified to give Prince some conflict.It also draws into another issue, which I think I looked over more at first as I was drawn into the music, which is Prince and Apollonia's relationship; early on it works really well, as he has that 'joking around' type of disposition (i.e. that great Lake Minnetonka scene), but then relatively quickly it becomes 'oh, now I see why there will be trouble.' But this seems to come somewhat suddenly, and it's understandable why she wants to get away from him. And then more drama ensues, and by the end all is forgiven. I didn't buy it.The clever part is that the songs performed live by Prince and the Revolution reflect the storyline: after the intro "Let's Get Crazy" which is just pure fun, the 'seduction' song gets Apollonia to maybe, sort of fall in love with The Kid (this comes after spending some time with him); then when he is feeling the rage, he gets sexual on stage - to the point of humping the amp in a frenzied performance of 'Darling Nikki'. And then the finale with the title track, which is a soulful, harrowing epic of pain and suffering. You do almost want to forgive Prince for the bad s*** he's done... almost. And then there's two more songs to finish off and you leave on a high and a buzz.Those live performances, and the music in general, including those basic but awesome dance tracks from The Time, make up what's so special about the movie and Prince in general. The guy just LOVES music here, and though it's mostly all of a similar track, of rock-funk going between up-beat and more ballady stuff (sometimes harder songs than others like Computer Blue and then the music that the two women make that's slow but powerful), it's all of a piece that is wonderful and kind of timeless. And I say timeless knowing full well this is very much an EIGHTIES movie in capital letters. There's Jheri curl juice all over this time, keyboards and synth and, I'm sure somewhere, a key-tar, and it's tempting to say a lot of the movie is dated by proxy of how the characters are dressed (except Prince who just dressed like Prince) and the cutting which is sometimes fine and other times pure music video of the period.But as far as "music video" movies go, this is still a stand-out, and if you come to it only moderately familiar with his work (as I was) you'll want to pick up much more of his music than before. In other words, Purple Rain dances with greatness and mediocrity and comes out in the middle.