Electric Blue

This film may not be a work of genius, but it touched me deeply in 1987 and it still does. Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox touch a chord literally and figuratively as polar opposite siblings who share a passion for music. Gena Rowlands is absolutely brilliant as the desperately ill mother who clings to her faith for solace and dominates her children out of fear for them. The soundtrack is jam-packed with old-fashioned style rock n' roll. An instrumental piece (titled Elegy) underscores the leaden sadness throughout the film and is ethereal and beautiful. For anyone who has struggled with family strife, there will be familiar territory here. This film is, in my opinion, underrated and worth a second (or a first!) look.

Joe (Michael J. Fox) and Patti (Joan Jetti) play in the band `The Barbusters'. They use to play in bars in the suburbs. Patti is the singer of the band and a single mother, has a beautiful son and is very rejected by her mother Jeanette (Gena Rowlands). They do not accept and understand each other. The father of Patti's son is unknown by her family. Patti wants to follow the career of musician, but her brother uses the band indeed as an alternative for the lack of job. Joe is the link between Patti and Jeanette, trying to resolve and absorb their problems. A terminal cancer in Jeanette changes the relationship among the family and cruel revelations are presented in the end, with a final redemption of the characters. The melodramatic screenplay of this movie looks like a Mexican soap opera, but the soundtrack is great. There is a minor participation of Jimmie Vaughn, as the singer of another band (`The Fabulous Thunderbirds'). This movie is not a masterpiece, but entertains, especially if the viewer watches it without any expectation, just for killing time. My vote is five.

In 1987, who would have guessed that the smirky kid from "Family Ties" had such range or that a punky girl rocker could deliver such a moving performance? "Light of Day" is a small but powerful film carried by incredible performances by Michael J. Fox, Joan Jett, and Gena Rowlands. Director Paul Schrader just lets the cameras roll while Fox and Jett deliver the goods in this simple tale of dreams, family, and redemption. The power of this film resides in the realism and sincerity of the interactions between Fox, Jett, and Rowlands. Seventeen years later, it still wrings more than few tears and leaves the viewer deeply satisfied. *****5-Stars! Bravo!

MJ Fox may have done his best serious acting here, but jett is better. A strange thing about the 70's runaways group. One chick, the one Dakota played in the biopic of the runaways recently, Cherrie Curie, did a great job acting in the 1980 movie Foxes.....and Joan nails it in 87...go figure....

A simple, very depressing, but realistic movie....slice of life stuff. Which, as someone mentioned, is obviously why it flopped at the BO. Very good bar band stuff from Jett here.....

Paul Schrader has never made a movie without merit. Keep in mind this is the guy who wrote the script for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, so even his least movies have something to offer. Schrader deals in some very heavy, deep human motivations and inclinations in his flicks, and never made a movie that was light fluff yet. This is the closest to that claim, and even this movie has merit and substance. Prob the worst movie he made, but even this is good....

Let's face it, the guy has never made a bad movie...

I never enjoyed the cutesy characters they always have Fox portray. Here he does a great job as a "regular", decent guy who is loyal to his family and just wants to know what his dream is. I think that Joan Jett did a fantastic job -- not too many musicians can cross over so well into movies. Fox and Jett are believable as brother and sister and Gena Rowlands is always incredible.

I think this movie was panned because people expect Mr. Fox to be silly and boyish (two things that he wasn't in this movie.) Good for you, Michael.