Under the Cherry Moon
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| Under the Cherry Moon | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Prince |
| Produced by | Cavallo, Ruffalo and Fargnoli |
| Written by | Becky Johnston |
| Starring | Prince Jerome Benton Kristin Scott Thomas Steven Berkoff |
| Music by | Prince and The Revolution |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | July 2, 1986 |
| Running time | 98 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~$12M |
| IMDb profile | |
Under the Cherry Moon is a 1986 movie directed by and starring Prince as a gigolo named Christopher Tracy and Time member Jerome Benton as his partner, Tricky. Together the pair swindle beautiful French women. The situation gets complicated when Christopher falls in love with heiress Mary Sharon (Kristin Scott Thomas) after planning to swindle her when he finds out that she receives a $50 million trust fund on her 21st birthday. Mary's father Isaac (Steven Berkoff) disapproves of the romance and provides an excellent adversary for Tracy.
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[edit] Release
The movie was released in processed black-and-white but was filmed in color. It was filmed on location in and around Nice, France, partly to ensure that there was good weather for filming and also to ensure that Prince was free of American film unions. The movie attempts to combine different styles and themes, including a musical, romantic comedy and drama. The film's soundtrack album, Parade, was generally much better received (particularly in Europe) than the film itself, and featured the hit single "Kiss".
[edit] Critiques
At the time of its release in 1986, many critics were expecting, in one form or another, a direct sequel to Purple Rain. However, barring a performance of "Girls & Boys" by Prince in a French restaurant, most of the soundtrack remains as background music, thus shaving much commercial potential off the film. The majority of critics were unimpressed, citing Prince as a self-indulgent egomaniac, although there was praise for the film's cinematography by Michael Ballhaus. On a sidenote, Ballhaus is a favorite of Martin Scorsese (Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York), and Prince himself had asked Scorsese to direct a movie for him when the two met up in France soon after the success of Purple Rain. Scorsese politely declined, saying he couldn't dilute the stamp of another great artist.
[edit] Directing
The film was originally slated to be directed by Mary Lambert, the director behind some of Madonna's most famous music videos, but after disagreements about the film's direction, she was made a creative consultant instead. Much of her input was disregarded and numerous drafts of the screenplay exist to show the revisions the story went through.
[edit] Cast
The cast was also changed during pre-production. Isaac Sharon was originally slated to be played by Terrance Stamp, although he didn't like the direction the film was going and eventually quit, replaced by Steven Berkoff. Emmanuelle Sallet who played Katie in the final version was originally included in a much smaller role, but had her part expanded after she met with Prince over dinner. Allegedly, the part of Mary's mother was also much larger, but was cut down in the final draft of the screenplay.
[edit] Filming
Filmed with a budget of about $12 million, Under the Cherry Moon failed to gain any breakout audience, despite much pre-publicity (including a special MTV premiere in Sheridan, Wyoming). It only just managed to make back $10,090,429 as the total US gross, and current figures (if VHS/DVD rentals and sales are included) stand at about $12.5 million. It was this commercial failure that saw the beginnings of Warner Brothers’ long-running feud with Prince.
In retrospect it is easy to see the influences that Prince used to construct his failed comedy pastiche. From Fellini's "8 1/2" (Prince has made reference to viewing Fellini films in lyrics such as "The Good Life") to the slapstick humor of Abbott and Costello (the sequence involving the ladder), Prince's intentions went over the heads of teenage audiences and the film was a disaster, although like most quirky bad films, it does have a cult following. The film is very camp. Roger Ebert has stated "I understand what he was trying to do." - "At The Movies" television show. The problem it would seem is that his idea was not a commercial one.
[edit] See also
- Parade, soundtrack to Under the Cherry Moon
[edit] External links
- Review at Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension
