MovieChat Forums > Under the Cherry Moon (1986) Discussion > Almost Brilliant

Almost Brilliant

posted 9 years ago by curtis-8
5 replies | jump to latest

Under the cherry moon is a boldly weird and very funny movie. I thought Prince did a great job. I have to admit though, there was nothing about the way they promoted it back in the 80s that made me want to go see it. My positive reaction is 20 years too late.

Strangely I think the weakest eleament of the movie is the music. Or rather the way the music is used. The songs are actually brilliant but they're usually just played in the background. If each song had been presented as a full-blown music video extravaganza like the "Girls and Boys" dance number or the trippy "Mountains" video bit during the end credits the movie I think UTCM would've been a hit. Not a Purple Rain sized hit, but not a bomb either.

I mean the Christopher Tracy character was a piano player after all. It should've been easy to work the tunes into the story like in an old style musical (or a surrealistic Elvis movie).

But anyway, now I'm sorry I waited 20 years to see it I was actually very entertained. He should have made more movies (who knows--maybe he has a dozen in "the vault.")

[–] Mississippi20 9 years ago

Definitely. Good point about the music. For such an amazing soundtrack, it was disappointing that the music wasn't featured more prominently than it was. In my opinion the album is every bit as good as Purple Rain.

In the trivia section, it says Prince rejected WB's suggestion for more conflict in the story because audiences would be entertained by the music. He may have been right, if only the music featured more prominently.....but by the same token, the music has to fit in the movie. So I don't know - I suppose that's the challenge of any musical: to adequately combine music and storytelling.

In many ways, it's a more cohesive film than 'Purple Rain' - 'Purple Rain' often feels like a music video with little intercut scenes between it. I think Prince gives a better performance in this one - obviously very funny and much more personality (along with the FANTASTIC Jerome Benton).

It doesn't have a whole lot in terms of story/plot but lots of style and great music. Maybe you gotta love Prince to love it.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] TimmyElkinson 9 years ago

Saw it on a big screen tonight and, surprisingly, i feel it kind of got a bad rep. I found that a lot of the audience was laughing, where intended. That being said, there were a lot of unintentional comedy, as well.

Prince is over the top, as is nearly ever other performer, but that's the whole tone of the movie. It's a throwback to silly romantic capers and I think Prince achieved what he was going for. I thought some of the shots were pretty ambitious for a first time director, especially the 360 shot around the club. I also kind of dug the fact that there were a lot of shots that may have been references to classics like Last Year At Marienbad, during the party sequence.

I agree, though, the music should've been far more prominent.

Now, this doesn't make the movie good, but I do think it was kind of fun to revisit. If you don't take it too seriously, I think you'll have fun.

"That's the karma again, I didn't help Kenny so she beat me up with a telephone"

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] filmschooldegree (350) 4 years ago

Yeah, it was an honest enough miss, he was an old movie buff and it was obvious he was paying homage to those camp, breezy romcoms of the golden era. Some of his favourite films were Eraserhead, the Idolmaker, Godfather and Amadeus, and you can detect elements of all of them during this movie.