‘The Color Purple’ Review: Still Here

There’s loads to love about this “Color Purple,” which is extra impressed by the musical than a straight adaptation of it. Some songs from the present have disappeared; others have been added, and “Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister),” from the 1985 movie, even exhibits up. Marcus Gardley’s screenplay in some methods hews nearer to the e-book — particularly within the romance between Shug and Celie, which is way from specific however is clearly intimate. That’s an vital layer in Celie’s life. If “The Color Purple” is a narrative about an abused Black lady studying her value within the firm of different girls, then Celie’s relationship with Shug, which exhibits her what it means to really feel pleasure and security, is a key element in her evolution.

Even higher, for the primary two hours, it’s absorbing: massive song-and-dance numbers and emotional set items, dynamic performances from everybody, and a sense of reverence for the story and what it’s meant for 40 years give it gravitas and coronary heart. I discovered myself wishing (as I typically do with modern movie-musicals) that the enhancing would decelerate and let me truly watch the dancers. But on the entire, I used to be gripped.

Yet by the top it’s clear that the story stays slippery to would-be adapters. This iteration encounters the identical challenge that Spielberg’s model did: to essentially inform Celie’s story, you need to permit area for some unutterable atrocities that give heft to her later improvement into a lady of willpower and braveness. And in a median film operating time, characters are likely to get flattened all the way down to caricatures; whereas this adaptation a minimum of provides the boys somewhat extra humanity than earlier variations, they nonetheless come off as principally soulless monsters. Hollywood films are ill-suited to this sort of materials, and the entire thing inevitably suffers because of this.

I assume that’s what occurred within the final half-hour or so, when Celie’s story instantly rushes headlong to an finish. It’s a cheerful finish, however one which feels mismatched rhythmically with the remainder of the movie. Sudden adjustments of coronary heart appear unmotivated, which drains the ultimate scene of its energy.

It’s too dangerous, and I hope some future adaptation of Walker’s novel will get Celie’s expansive humanity proper. There’s a lot fertile floor left to discover. It’s a story of horror, but additionally of heroism — a Black lady who finds freedom within the firm of different Black girls, after which, with unbelievable bravery, extends that freedom onward.

The Color Purple
Rated PG-13 for incest, rape, racism and abuse. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes. In theaters Dec. 25.