132. Purple Rain

Song - Purple Rain (Prince)

Movie: Purple Rain (Albert Magnoli, 1984)

YouTube personalities are not necessarily obnoxious! For proof, see the twins filming themselves listening to classic songs they hear for the first time. They went viral a couple of weeks ago, after Phil Collins' unexpected drum solo in In the Air Tonight blew their mind. Since, they've come under the attention of the artists they respond to. Annie Lennox, for example, was overjoyed after seeing their delighted reaction to Sweet Dreams. They deserve their 15 minutes of fame. Unlike many other 'internet stars' they seem genuine in their enthusiasm and they have a genuine ear for music, allowing them to explain in not entirely amateurish ways why the song works for them the way it does. I would not be surprised if for some impressionable teen they turn out to be a gateway drug to music criticism. I, who most decidedly do not have a good ear for music, have always liked In the Air Tonight, but only after watching their viral video did I realise why the drum solo in that song is so special, beyond just being awesome. Similarly, I only realised after Prince' death that he was a truly towering figure in music. And while I was familiar with songs like Darling Nikki, Purple Rain and When Doves Cry, hearing them in this film, I felt like the two viral brothers did when Phil Collins did his thing.  

I used to see Prince as a bit of an attention-seeking clown who tried and failed to upstage Michael Jackson. And Purple Rain, I thought, was a fun song that was also heavily overblown kitsch. What this film makes clear is that I was not really wrong about the second part. Purple Rain is overblown kitsch, but it is overblown kitsch at its absolute best, created by a ridiculously talented and charismatic rock artist with an utterly unique sensibility, one who finds real emotion in overblown kitsch. You also gotta admire Prince' (and the film's) confidence in the power of Purple Rain. Throughout the film we are teased with the first couple of (instrumental) notes of the song. it's not only set up to be the absolute highlight of the film, it's what the entire film builds up to, the reason for its existence. It must deliver and does. The Purple Rain performance is one of the best music sequences I've seen in film, in part because Magnoli mostly stays on Prince. He just lets him perform, only occasionally cutting away to the utterly enthralled audience. The sequence works as a standalone rock performance (it is the song's official videoclip), as an expression of The Kid's (Prince' character) emotions and as a satisfying ending to the film's story and The Kid's character arc. (Not that there is much of a story or a character arc. Those things are just an excuse to string the spectacularly filmed performances together.)

And yet, as great as Purple Rain is, it may be upstaged here by Darling Nikki. It's the kind of unabashed celebration of casual meaningless sex, and of lust, that is rare in American media/art. American movies and music know that sex sells, but they also know that "Republicans buy sneakers too." And so they try to contrive situations that can justify showing sex, while also contriving that the sex they show fits within acceptable parameters. Darling Nikki, the song, doesn't care about that at all. Darling Nikki, the sequence in this film, cares even less. It's about sex for the sake of sex, simply because it's fun and enjoyable (equally so, for both men and women). And its sole intent is to get you in the mood for it, because that too is fun and enjoyable. That makes it subversive in itself, but what makes it even more so, is that the film doesn't make a big fuss about the scene. It's not given any special treatment, it's not being foreshadowed, or lingered on for much more than necessary. Nor is it (explicitly) used to pander to a progressive political sensibility, or to dunk on conservatives. It's just a scene that happens to be part of the film and helps drive the narrative and the characterisations forward, as normal as a scene in a horror film intended to scare you or a scene in a comedy intended to make you laugh.