El color púrpura

Ok so I thought long & hard about my viewing of The Color Purple last night. I feel it's a bit sacrilegious to say it wasn't my favorite movie. Honestly, I was a little disappointed. I will tell you why, spoiler free!

First the good- the acting, cinematography & production were stellar! Costume & set design were top notch & the vocal performances were great. I LOVE Danielle Brooks and honestly wished she was on screen more (more into that later). Fantasia's acting performance was great, as was the rest of the cast. Colman Domingo, who played Mister, was good too.

Now the bad... ok, so this is a musical, which isn't an issue but I feel that part of the story was lost/glossed over, especially Celie's & Sophia's strife, for the sake of song & dance. I never read the book, nor saw the Broadway production so I can't only compare it to the Spielberg 80's production, which (I may add) is one of my favorite movies. I feel a hard time connecting with the characters and their story seemed to have gotten diminished. I think another 30 minutes could have easily been added to the movie to help with character development instead of displaying year stamps to show the passing of time. It felt too play-like in some parts too.

Celie had a messed up life (putting it mildly to avoid spoilers) which you kinda felt it but not really. Her story felt very rushed with a quick conclusion that felt a bit weak to me. Same with Sophia. Danielle Brooks is very comfortable in the Sophia role & played her so well, that her lack of screen time was felt. She dominated the scenes she was in but felt her character was thrown in a dark hole to just pop up every now & then to remind you she existed. Taraji P. Henson was good as Shug Avery but even she felt toned down, especially her relationship with the pastor, played by David Alan Grier.

I don't know... I love these characters. This movie felt like the abbreviated version of the story. I'm sure anyone who has never seen the original (or hasn't seen it in a long time) would really enjoy this. This movie will most likely be nominated for a bunch of awards. The Spielberg 80's production was nominated for 11 Academy Awards & woefully won none. The movie was robbed that year and should have won at least one. Whoopi Goldberg's (she should have won), Oprah's, & Danny Glover's performances are a hard act to follow but those that filled their shoes did a wonderful job.

The best way for me to describe the story was to compare it to episodic tv where a problem arose & was quickly solved within the 30 minute episode. Granted, the movie is much longer but there were a lot of problems. It seriously felt rushed. It lacks heart. I ball my eyes out at the end of Spielberg's version, but not this one.

Danielle Brooks is someone to keep your eye on (loved her in Orange is the New Black as Tastee). I will be rooting for her!

So, that's how I felt. If anything, the movie made me want to read Alice Walker's book even more. It's good & I will recommend it to people who I think the original may be a bit too much for them to handle, but I really will push the original film to get a better dramatic tellling of The Color Purple.

The original film of The Color Purple was certainly not a musical with all the constant singing and dancing in the middle of scenes. It was far superior to this one. I would file this under movies that do not to be remade and definitely not turned into musicals. I found myself turned off repeatedly in the middle of a serious scene where hat everyone would bust into song and start dancing everywhere. The music and dancing ruined this film for me. It's a shame too because the actors and actresses were all excellent and would have done much better without the constant distraction of music and dancing routines. This is not a comedy. It's a serious drama. But it was hard to take it seriously with all the silliness in between the dramatic scenes. Sorry but I would NOT recommend this disappointment of a remake.

It's certainly possible that the core story of The Colour Purple just doesn't do anything for me. Because I'm not a huge fan of Spielberg's movie either but at least I thought it was a consistent vision. It may have devolved into misery porn for me after a while but at least it was tonally consistent misery porn. That's not something I can say for this new movie because I can't remember the last time I felt this much tonal whiplash watching a film.

Because the choice to tell this story as a musical wasn't entirely successful for me. Because for as well produced and performed as these sequences are they are in constant clash with the overwhelmingly heinous actions taken against these characters. These women can go from experiencing physical, lawful and sexual abuse only for the filmmakers to jarringly cut to a highly choreographed, energetic musical sequence. It rarely feels smooth and it constantly makes the film feel as if it's at war with itself for what it wants to be.

Those sequences really are gorgeously produced and performed to their credit though as is the entire film. All though often to its detriment, there's energy through every single performance and shot in this film and I really appreciate that they didn't revert to the bare minimum of shot/reverse shot even for even simple dialogue scenes. But for as incredible as these performances are, character wise this script personally left a lot to be desired.

It makes sense that this main character is as passive as she is given the abuse she suffers but it took too long for her arc to come to fruition. Because the only time she ever takes any agency is through other characters. This might work for where she starts the film but it just robs the character of any real development. Supporting characters are constantly swooping in to make her important life choices for her, rather than having her actually receiving any growth of her own, by the time she finally starts making her own choices not only does it feel unearned but also far too late in the film to feel satisfying.

The resolution of her character arc might've been unearned but it pales in comparison to how these male abusers are treated. The husband characters played, admittedly very well, by Colman Domingo and Corey Hawkins are portrayed as abusive to quite honestly ridiculous levels. Domingo's character is basically just portrayed as evil with almost no nuance or depth and Hawkins is written as wholly ignorant in a way that could've made sense but the entire resolution to those characters totally fumbles their entire arcs. There are elements of generational trauma given but it's not explored nearly deeply enough to justify their actions.

The script makes them horrific abusers from almost their very introduction and in the third act the filmmakers have the gall to try and redeem them. Not only does it fall totally flat but I actually found it fairly insulting as a viewer. Forgiveness should have limits but at the very least it should make sense from a writing perspective. Nothing in the first two acts gives any sense that these characters deserve redemption, nor that any other character would forgive them, and it made a large part of the last third totally infuriating to watch.

The Colour Purple was a frustrating experience for me. I may not totally connect with this story but I had far too many issues from a writing perspective to give the film the benefit of the doubt. It is an extremely well produced version of a deeply flawed script. It's completely lacking in depth or nuance and it's totally eye rolling in how it depicts the trauma of it's characters. Musical's are totally capable of dealing with dark subject matters but it's all down to tone and it honestly felt like this script had no barring on how it wanted to portray this story.

It's a decent new adaptation of The Color Purple with gorgeous production designs, solid direction and good performances from the cast members. Director Blitz Bazawule does a solid work on handling the tone and setting alongside with the production sets, costumes, and camerawork being really colorful and beautiful. The musical singing moments, while some of the musical tracks weren't great, were solid with some pretty good lyrics and musical tones explored. Many of the performances were pretty good as there wasn't a single poor performance.

Since I have read the book and seen the first adaptation from Steven Spielberg which I really liked, I felt the emotional core and writing isn't as strong as it could be as there were some elements that felt thin and could have been explored a bit more. Since this is based on the broadway version, I haven't seen the broadway version so that might explain the disconnection. There were some pacing issues and some of the dialogue moments were a little odd. Overall, it's a decent adaptation but I prefer to watch Steven Spielberg's version.

Danielle Brooks truly stole the show as Sofia in the film, shining like a star. Her talent and beauty are simply awe-inspiring. Whenever she graced the screen, a smile would automatically appear on my face, and I couldn't help but feel a slight blush. Her performance was filled with sensitivity and power, making her the perfect fit for the role. I have no doubt that she will have a long and illustrious career, deserving of celebration.

I couldn't have asked for a better way to start my Christmas morning than being immersed in the timeless charm of this classic film's stunning visuals and captivating sound. I'm absolutely thrilled to keep playing the soundtrack on repeat!