Rating of
1/4
No Joy in Repetition
industrialist - wrote on 11/17/09
This ill-conceived follow-up to Purple Rain appropriately captures the New Jack Swing era that Prince was evolving with, but all the flashy art direction and Scott brothers-like cinematography is undermined by a hopelessly narcissistic screenplay and Prince's own rambunctious hubris.
To be fair, his self-imposed martyrdom is an intriguing angle. As a suffering artist, The Kid struggles to find an audience with his eclectic, overtly spiritualist funk against more crowd-pleasing musos - a theme mirroring Prince's own struggle with the non-reaction that saw now critically acclaimed albums such as Sign 'o the Times receive little commercial fanfare at the time. But the film labors by investing far too much attention toward uninteresting characters and is dense with such posturing esotericness that it at times becomes embarrassing.
While this may be one of Prince's weakest albums, there are still some fiery musical numbers: "Thieves in the Temple", "Elephants & Flowers" and "Joy in Repetition" are both aurally exquisite and compellingly filmed. Even Tevin Campbell's exuberant "Round and Round" and Morris Day's "Shake!" are surprisingly engaging. It's a shame then that the music becomes secondary to ego and the film collapses under the weight of self-important poetic hogwash.
