My Review of Purple Rain (1984) directed by Albert Magnoli, music by Prince

 Few films have been so lifted by their music like this classic. Yes, I said classic. Possibly the greatest movie soundtrack of all time was accompanied by a film that would've bombed without it. Prince's musical magnum opus and his his most watchable narrative film.

Let's just get the narrative plot stuff out the way first. While this is the best of Prince's narrative films and his second best music film after Sign "☮" the Times (1987), that ain't saying much in regards to the acting. This film confirms the timeless truth that actors are better at playing musicians than musicians are at acting in movies (most of the time). Nobody does any real acting here besides the professional actors playing Prince's parents (shoutout to the late great character actor Clarence Williams III) and Morris Day & Jerome Benton who were having a blast at playing the antagonists to Prince's character (very different from real life where Prince was their very strict boss). This is the only one of the major "Prince films" where Prince was not the director and that may contribute to the acting being relatively more passable than in subsequent films like Under the Cherry Moon (1986) and Graffiti Bridge (1990). While the locations in the film are real (besides the interior shots of Prince's parents' house), much of the movie is original/made-up. In real life: Prince's parents are both Black, he is not an only child and has multiple siblings, and most importantly—all the music that appears in the film, including the songs by Morris Day & The Time and the Apollonia 6 were written by Prince alone.

What makes this film so beloved is the music. The In-story had Prince's character be at war with Morris Day over top-billing at the First Avenue club in Minneapolis, yet the music for both The Time and The Revolution were written and mostly performed by Prince himself (with Morris Day singing lead on the final product for The Time). Prince's real-life rival at this time was that other Midwestern prodigy Michael Jackson. Both men were deeply inspired by James Brown. This film and album dropped a year after the hype over Thriller had stared to subside. 1984-85 would then be Prince's time to shine and shine he would. Much of the music for the film was recorded live in concert at First Avenue in 1983 while other songs had been recorded as early as 1981. The Revolution stands as the test of time as the best incarnation of Prince's bands and of the "Minneapolis Sound." As good as Prince's follow-up album Parade was, as a soundtrack it was not strong enough to have a similar effect on Under the Cherry Moon as Purple Rain's soundtrack had on its movie.

As we approach 41 years this July since its premiere and 67 years since his birth June 7th, I think this film will live on. It was, in the middle of the 1980s, a convergence of African-American, alternative/indie, and Minneapolis cultures. "According to legend," Prince had intended the song Purple Rain to be a county music song for Stevie Nicks, but she passed on it and Prince decided to start working on it and add more gospel, R&B, and rock elements to it made the masterpiece we know today. It is right that the movie's ending climax is the title song and two encores (with an ending "happily ever after montage playing over one) on stage and let the music be the send-off of the movie on a high note. 

That's how you stick a landing☔