Eric Clapton was once asked what it felt like to be the
greatest guitarist alive. His response was “I don’t know, ask Prince”. His
death marks the end of an era for pop music, as one of the most defining
figures of the genre, and of music in general. So I can’t think of a better
time to look back at the legendary rock drama, ‘Purple Rain’.
A victim of his own anger, the Kid (Prince) is a Minneapolis
musician on the rise with his band, the Revolution, escaping a tumultuous home
life through music. While trying to avoid making the same mistakes as his
truculent father (Clarence Williams III), the Kid navigates the club scene and
a rocky relationship with a captivating singer, Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero).
But another musician, Morris (Morris Day), looks to steal the Kid's spotlight and
his girl.
This is a performer who did so much more than sing, he
helped redefine the culture of his era. I saw an interesting review of his
impact today, one that stated that it was sadly poignant that Prince’s death
comes in the same year as David Bowie’s, both performers who defied what a man
had to be, whose music transcended gender. It was no accident that Prince’s
band was called The Revolution.
Today’s popular musicians have this notion that the only way
to make a movie is some documentary about whatever tour they’re undergoing that
year, then spend a while moping about their difficult lifestyles and literally
say to the camera at some point “I put a lot of effort into my music”. This
wasn’t the case with the artists of yesterday, The Beatles had ‘A Hard Day’s
Night’, Pink Floyd had ‘The Wall’ and Prince had ‘Purple Rain’.
‘A Hard Day’s Night’ follows a day in the life of The Beatles
(or at least that’s what I want to believe, every day for them in 1964 was
exactly like that one) and ‘The Wall’ was a nightmarish psychedelic, dystopian
rock opera. But as for ‘Purple Rain’, it’s essentially one music video after
another, a short set up for the story which is ultimately resolved through a
song, somehow. But at the same time there’s a depth and substance to them, not
just random images to occupy you while the music plays, they are really trying
to say something dramatic with this stuff. Each song evokes a new form of
emotion and drama that moves the narrative forward, it introduces a bit more
about Prince’s character and his overall development. As Gene Siskel said in
his review “I think this movie should be studied for how it uses music
dramatically.” Siskel would go on to name it the fifth best movie of that year
and his enthusiasm was shared by his ever present partner, Roger Ebert who also
enjoyed the film immensely, describing it as “electrifying”.
It may seem easy to dismiss the movie but it still stands as
perhaps the greatest testament to his artistry and brilliance as a performer,
rivalled only by his magnificent live performance at the 2007 super bowl (which
is truly fantastic). But what may be even more remarkable about the film is the
way in which it contrasts this artistry with reality. There’s a constant
struggle for Prince (I know his character is supposed to be called The Kid, but
come one, we know it’s Prince) to find a compromise between the restrictions of
reality with his young rock star ambition. It’s a somewhat tortured conundrum
but whenever the music stirs up, it’s a brief moment of euphoria. It’s how I
always felt listening to his music, for those few minutes nothing else really
mattered, you’re just caught up in the moment.
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