Review of The Color Purple (1985) by John P — 05 Oct 2011

Ah, this one. I've been watching all of the Spielberg films in order... Well, because I'm currently unemployed and perpetually bored, but watching movies is not an activity I have to defend, so screw you.

Anyway, after 10 years of making straight blockbusters, Spielberg makes a movie he.... Actually hadn't made yet: a quiet personal drama. He adapts a book that I'm sure is absolutely boring into a movie that at times is absolutely boring. But it's the type of movie that you have to keep watching, because by the end, you know and (maybe) love all of the characters, so you actually care what happens.

Spielberg overdirects this at times, making it into what seems like a load of Oscar-baited shit. This isn't helped by Quincy Jones's syrupy music score, which feels like it's forced down my throat like that time I drank an entire glass at Bickford's (shut up).

But, despite all that, it's definitely a pretty movie, and I don't really understand why people gave a shit that a white dude was directing a movie exclusively about black people.

Good performances, good.... mise-en-scene. That's actually the greatest part about the movie. Not for a minute (well, maybe one minute) do you feel like this DOESN'T take place in the time period it does. The only flaw this has is that some characters seem to age a whole lot in the span of about 20 years while others seem to have drank from the Holy Grail and don't age at all.

Oh well.