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Genre I’d put it in: Musical Adaptations That Become A Master Class In Their Genre
Release Date: 2023
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Based on the musical of the novel by Alice Walker, as well as that novel’s film adaptation. With me so far?

Gotta say: I don’t typically blow smoke up a movie’s patoot. It’s rare when I fawn and gush, even when I’m absolutely twitterpated. I’ll like something. I’ll love something. But Purple? Is how you do a theater musical adaptation y’all. It’s cinematic perfection, taking the onstage story, blocking, songs, and characters, and using the cinematic medium beautifully to bring the best bits of everything to a completely different art form. I truly left this screening all teary and sniffly. Mostly because that climactic end scene/song was so freaking beautiful. But also because I was that happy. Don’t worry; I’ll be back to my monstrous self in no time. But ’til then? This Grinch’s heart grew the day I saw Purple.

Of course this film would be good. It’s got the Amblin Entertainment logo front and center, with heavy-hitters producing the film; Oprah, Quincy Jones, Little Stevie Spielberg, and Alice Walker herself, to name a few. In the featurette announcing the film, Oprah said “…every woman and man who has been invisible, who has felt unseen and unvalued? This is their story.” And honey, if this was their goal? This film absolutely nails it. The way pain, anguish, and heartbreak makes way for joy, friendship, and love? It’s a sumptuous tale everyone can empathize with, told in a way that spans decades of story-time, yet every moment onscreen feels immediate and important.

It’s been said that I can be mean spirited when it comes to movie musicals. Well, that. I am not ashamed. When film history has so many amazing classics in this genre, I feel I can be a bit selective in my love. Purple takes the term instant-classic and grabs it with both hands, and that’s an apt description for this film. The cinematography is razor-sharp, clear as a bell, and draws you in with its glorious colors. These sleek visuals alone are worth the price of admission (the shots of those gorgeous of-era cars are mouth-watering, and I barely know how to drive), and even mysterious darkness holds emotional weight.

Kudos to cinematographer Dan Lausten. Perhaps this is the year he’ll finally win that Oscar? Lausten works perfectly with editor Jon Poll to keep the pace of the film moving and moving without feeling dizzying or dull. Combine that with the compositions from Kris Bowers that add to the musicals potency, and everything blends into a lovely moment, every moment. But it’s director Blitz Bazawule, a relative unknown to multiplex goers, who blends everything together beautifully. His visual style is striking, his shot compositions powerful, and his ability to blend musical numbers into the narrative is fitting to the story at hand.

Meanwhile, in front of the camera? Fantasia Barrino & Danielle Brooks are definitely in the running for So Many award season taps. And if I’m wrong? Shame on award circles. SHAME. Barrino is magnificent as downtrodden child-turned downtrodden wife Celie, letting you feel every bit of that characters emotional journey. Barrino’s use of silence as emotion is just as beautiful as her gorgeous voice. And Brooks’s powerhouse Sofia comes in like a tidal wave, upending the lives of Celie and her family in a way that can only bring joy…ultimately at a heavy price for Sofia.

Meanwhile, performers with briefer roles also do beautifully, especially H.E.R. as the deceptively passive Squeak (aka Mary Agnes), Louis Gossett Jr. as a curmudgeonly patriarchal Ol’ Mister Johnson, and David Alan Grier as Shug’s father the Reverend Samuel Avery. Special shout-out should probably go to someone outside the core women of this tale, but I can’t help myself; Taraji P. Henson is incandescent as Shug Avery, a woman whose arrival into the lives of Celie and her family begins a chain-reaction that changes everything.

This film pulls no punches with the real-world problems these characters would encounter, and while the majority of the film focuses on the lives of these characters as relatively well off (for their time) people? It reminds us that that meant nothing in the larger world. That the beautiful cinematography and glorious colors stay the same throughout darker scenes of violence and hate make things even more affecting. The beauty of the natural world coupled with the ugliness of those emotions hit like a gut punch to your soul.

So yeah. This one’s gonna be one you’ll want to buy tickets to in advance. Because it’s gonna get buzzy ’round here. And you’re gonna want to see what all the fuss is about. At around two and a half hours, this musical is long, but not so long that it’ll wear you out, nor tax your…body parts. Just bring a tissue or two. Don’t be like me and end up wiping your eyes (and, lets face it, nose) on your cardigan. Stay classy y’all.

#Protip: Filming was done at Driftwood Beach on Jeckyll Island, which is an area I absolutely adore. If you’re trying to figure out places to see when you travel next year? The Golden Isles of Georgia are pretty darn great. Just maybe leave your swimsuit for the hotel pool though?