Few trendy literary works are as enduring as The Coloration Purple, Alice Walker’s Pulitzer-winning 1982 novel. It was tailored right into a beloved, if additionally criticized, Steven Spielberg movie in 1985, after which twenty years later grew to become a stage musical—which might, ten years after that, take pleasure in a celebrated revival in London and New York. The story of a Georgia girl, Celie, who perseveres via the early a part of the twentieth century as time and circumstances beat her down, The Coloration Purple has for over 4 a long time served as a beacon of hope, and inspiration, in troublesome days. (Which is to say, all days.)
Now the stage musical has itself grow to be a movie, opening in theaters Christmas Day. Directed by Ghanaian polymath Blitz Bazawule (he’s a singer, songwriter, director, producer, visible artist, and extra), The Coloration Purple offers those that didn’t have an opportunity to see the stage present a style of what the fuss was about again in 2005 and 2015. (And through subsequent nationwide excursions.) That is all the time the beneficiant work of even probably the most unsuccessful movie variations of musical theater: they dramatically decrease the barrier to entry. Given the extraordinary devotion to The Coloration Purple and the brand new movie’s prime place as a vacation launch, there are excessive hopes {that a} large field workplace smash is within the offing.
And sure, the movie might be sturdy sufficient to catch word-of-mouth fireplace. It’s an adaptation that sands narrative edges and rushes via issues, but in addition captures a spirit common to all Coloration Purple iterations, whereas offering a sturdy showcase for the rousing songs written by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray.
A lot of Bazawule’s movie feels supplemental, like a tuneful companion piece for somebody at present studying, or already intimately aware of, the novel. Lots of Walker’s trickier themes—most prominently the ebook’s queer subplots—are barely current within the movie. However the fundamental beats, introduced at a clip, are roughly the identical. A younger Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) is separated from her sister, Nettie (Halle Bailey), when Celie is married off to a merciless landowner identified principally as Mister (Colman Domingo). A long time go by, as Celie (now performed by Fantasia Barrino, who did a extremely lauded stint within the function on Broadway) negotiates a troublesome life with Mister, pining away for a sister she thinks she might by no means see once more.
Celie’s life is enlivened by the arrival of two formidable ladies: blues singer Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson) and Sofia (Danielle Brooks, a Tony winner for the Broadway revival), the spitfire spouse of Mister’s son, Harpo (Corey Hawkins). These ladies open Celie’s eyes to the potential for life, finally empowering her to strike out on her personal and stand agency in her sense of self. These evolutions are made most potent in tune, notably “I’m Right here,” the towering eleven o’clock ballad delivered forcefully by Barrino. This Coloration Purple is extra about how the songs replicate a well-known story somewhat than the story itself.
Which may make the movie appear skinny. We spend a lot of our time admiring the thorough performances—Domingo’s purring villainy, Henson’s horny glide complemented by kindness—however in any other case ready considerably impatiently for the subsequent tune to start. (13 numbers from the stage present have been minimize for the movie, however there are nonetheless loads to take pleasure in.) In that method, Bazawule’s movie performs like a collection of linked musical moments within the vein of a visible album, full with sun-dappled imagery and kinetic camerawork. Those that actually wish to stay in each granular element of Celie’s journey towards actualization might discover this model missing.
However these there for giant numbers belted with aptitude might be glad. “I’m Right here” offers the anticipated chills, whereas Brooks tears into the barn burner “Hell No” with a shrewd steadiness of comedy and severe anger. The reprise of the title tune, sung on the movie’s poignant however maybe too tidy finish, is one other beautiful sequence. Barrino’s voice is directly delicate and sturdy, flecked with scratch and reediness earlier than blooming into full-throated plaint. One feels the ardency of Barrino’s connection to the function, which is of important significance in a movie that’s usually unusually glancing, quick, cursory.
Maybe it was the movie’s deliberate calculation that everybody is already so aware of The Coloration Purple that this model might perform most effectively as a song-delivery system. That premise is borne out to a point, however one nonetheless yearns for Bazawule to decelerate and let the viewer take within the texture and heartbeat of the piece. Whereas grandly transferring on the shut, an excessive amount of of this Coloration Purple depends on recollections of Coloration Purples previous.
