El lado oscuro del sol

I saw the review of the film last night and since it was a Brad Pitt film and the plot sounded interesting, I looked anxious for it.

I can't say I didn't enjoy the film, it was touching and Brad Pitt did a good job considering it was one of his first roles, and the girl was pretty OK. However, I think his character lacked a bit in depth and sending emotion. The meeting scene in the bar was well done and their dialogues were pleasant, if not for being too deep, then just for Brad Pitt's presence.

But I expected much more from such an interesting story line, and I think the fault for the final outcome is definitely the director's. The film lacked a lot in credibility, and what could have been a really tear jerker left me unable to cry, but with a lump in my throat and the feeling something was wrong about the movie...

The ending scene with him completely full of blisters looked very unbelievable, when just the evening before he only had a few red lines on his chest. It's true the magic 3 day period was over, but it couldn't have happened all so suddenly.

Then his skin and hair looking so perfect, considering he had spent all his life trapped in that suffocating leather costume...The fight scene, totally bad, when his father knocks three guys down with a slap...And a scene with a topless bimbo, disgusting and out of place.

But if able to ignore some cheesy scenes and concentrate on Brad Pitt's performance, the film is not bad after all. It's just that it could have been much better...

This is a wannabe "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble," but Travolta did a much better job than Brad Pitt in that role.

I'm a big Pitt fan, but he's really lame in this one. When he's wearing the mask, he is very melodramatic. Maybe the director told him to exaggerate his voice, since he does not have the benefit of facial expressions. Whatever the reason, it doesn't work.

The sad thing is, Pitt's performance is probably the best in the movie. The other actors are even worse.

The whole film has a B-movie feel. For example, there's a fight scene where a guy is knocked out by a slap to the face.

By the time this 1988 movie got around to being released direct to video, Brad Pitt had become a superstar with a name and looks known world wide. So audiences seeing it in 1997 they knew who was behind the black leather mask.

Some truly homoerotic overtones are in The Dark Side Of The Sun where Brad Pitt because he is suffering from a rare skin disease where the contact with sunlight can be fatal. Pitt is quite the interesting package on that motorcycle dressed in black leather from top to bottom even with a leather ski mask. Had this film been released in 1988 it wouldn't have had the same impact when Pitt unmasks.

Pitt, father Guy Boyd, and mother Milena Dravic are in Yugoslavia while it was still intact on the Adriatic coast seeing a healer. Apparently these people are rich enough to look for everything that science, faith or even witchcraft has to offer.

But after Pitt meets another young American Cheryl Pollak he decides that maybe the three days he can expose himself to the sun before his skin erupts and he dies a really horrible painful death are worth the price.

The ironic twist here is that the sun and our perfect proximity to it is what sustains life on earth. It is also Pitt's instrument of death.

Pollak and Pitt make a tender Love Story like romantic couple and the Adriatic surely is a beautiful location with a romantic atmosphere.

The Dark Side Of The Sun has that interesting history. That lost footage stored for 9 years kept this film from being seen until Yugoslavia broke up after Tito's death. Would the reaction have been different had it been released in 1988 before Brad Pitt was superstar Brad Pitt?

I guess only if we slide into an alternate universe will we ever know.

Keeping in mind that this is Brad Pitt's first debut acting film, I was impressed. The film itself had its low budget, foreign movie type downfalls, but looking at most major blockbuster movie stars in their embarrassing early films, I think he showed great beginning quality. The script was great, made me think about how precious every day is.

In spite of what others have said, I enjoyed this movie. I had never heard of it before and I have just seen it on the Canadian Movie Channel. I was puzzled to see how young Brad Pitt was - even younger than in "Thelma and Louise" - until I read the explanation about it being filmed in Yugoslavia in 1988 and then being lost for 9 years until finally issued in 1997. As I am a male senior citizen, I don't get palpitations at the sight of Brad Pitt, but I do like and respect him, and have enjoyed most of his movies. Some of the acting and parts of the script leave a great deal to be desired. However, this movie has a very Film Festival European feel to it, and in my view is a bit too deep for most North American film fans (insult intended). The scene of him frolicking in the ocean with the dolphins, and his description of the most wonderful day that he had ever spent, moved me tremendously. Life is made up of choices, and the choice for the hero was one day of great happiness and joy, or a lifetime of imprisonment.