Only watched this for the first time last night after constantly seeing it appear in top ten lists of greatest music films ever made. I figured it must be something pretty special.
It wasn't.
On the plus side, the "live" performance stuff is great. Not just Prince, but Morris Day and the Time were great, too. The soundtrack has always been a terrific album. I liked the character of Apollonia, but mostly because I felt completely sorry for her.
And that brings me to my main point. This film is absurdly horrible towards women. I am not "woke", nor am I a raging feminist or whatever. But within the first half hour, Prince's character was a complete jerk who I couldn't feel invested in, as was every other male character. From degrading someone by making them strip almost naked and jump in freezing water to literally throwing a woman into a dumpster, the women in this film are treated horribly.
I get that the '80s were a different time and we've grown since then as a society. And I get that one of the central themes was how The Kid was in danger of becoming his father. But I really think they could have done it in a far more subtle way, using subtext instead of blatant cruelty.
But whatever. As long as the soundtrack sells, right?
It wasn't.
On the plus side, the "live" performance stuff is great. Not just Prince, but Morris Day and the Time were great, too. The soundtrack has always been a terrific album. I liked the character of Apollonia, but mostly because I felt completely sorry for her.
And that brings me to my main point. This film is absurdly horrible towards women. I am not "woke", nor am I a raging feminist or whatever. But within the first half hour, Prince's character was a complete jerk who I couldn't feel invested in, as was every other male character. From degrading someone by making them strip almost naked and jump in freezing water to literally throwing a woman into a dumpster, the women in this film are treated horribly.
I get that the '80s were a different time and we've grown since then as a society. And I get that one of the central themes was how The Kid was in danger of becoming his father. But I really think they could have done it in a far more subtle way, using subtext instead of blatant cruelty.
But whatever. As long as the soundtrack sells, right?