Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 16, 2025

Richard Pryor's "Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling" (1986) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include new program with filmmaker Robert Townsend and archival episode of The Dick Cavett Show featuring Richard Pryor. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Hey, man, who are you?

It would be interesting to know whether someone had asked Richard Pryor if he had intended his only film, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, to be linked to Federico Fellini’s 8½. If Pryor had said yes, then everything that takes place in Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling can instantly be placed in a proper context and evaluated for what it is. If Pryor had said no, are you kidding, then Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling becomes an even more interesting film to deconstruct because it proves that 8 ½ is indeed a timeless masterpiece.

I would like to comment on these hypothetical answers because they will help you understand why Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is not the odd duck in Pryor’s filmography many people have described. You will understand why it works very well, too.

The first answer immediately validates the significance of the obvious, which is that Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling pulls off the same trick that 8 ½ does. It does not tell a conventional story, it offers an intimate confession. However, this intimate confession is without a shadow of a doubt the best story that Pryor worked on. It is about him, climbing to the top and then going entering a dark rabbit hole, where his entire philosophy of life was crushed and rebuilt through failures and bad choices.

The second answer proves that the most talented creative people who spend their entire lives producing visual content for massive audiences eventually make the same discovery. Their best content is their own, uncensored story. This discovery always occurs after they are recognized as masters of their craft. Why? They are elevated so high above everyone else that, at a certain moment, they permanently lose their ability to be fully satisfied with the quality of their work no longer satisfies them. It does not matter if there are any valid reasons for this transformation. It is when they realize that no new material they can craft would match the purity and quality of the story they have been a part of. The entirety of Fellini’s 8 ½ is about this moment. In it, Fellini is Guido Anselmi, the aging film director, who is expected to direct his next grand masterpiece but does not know how to do it. He could do another film, probably a petty good one too, but not the grand masterpiece everyone awaits.

In Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, Pryor does not even pretend to be someone else like Fellini does. It is immediately obvious that he plays himself. It is undeniable that he is many, many times more unforgiving than Fellini, too. An unfunny choker? Check. A womanizer? Check. A compulsive liar? Check. A hopeless, self-hating drug addict? Check. In several segments, it almost feels like Pryor is trying his best to publicly dismantle Pryor. It is just too much, so despite the occasional jokes that pop up here and there, it is very, very difficult to watch.

This is why Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is choppy and full of rough episodes. It is not a film that was made to look good and entertain. It is an intimate confession that offers a glimpse into Pryor’s hurting soul and battles powerful dark demons. Such films are rare, and when made with a great deal of honesty, they are never crowd-pleasers.

Pryor is surrounded by various outstanding supporting actors, like Paula Kelly, Scoey Mitchell, Debbie Allen, Billy Eckstine, Art Evans, Michael Ironside, and Wings Hauser. His downfall is unleashed during a party organized by Hauser, playing flawlessly an incredibly sleazy character, who showers him with cocaine and destroys his relationship with a woman he genuinely loves.

Before committing to work with Pryor, Oscar-nominated cinematographer John Alonzo had lensed such big films as Vanishing Point, Chinatown, and Scarface.

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Criterion's combo pack of Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A "locked".

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this release:

"The film was restored in 4K by Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2023 from the original 35mm camera negative. The 2.0 surround soundtrack was remastered from the original 35mm LCRS DME magnetic tracks. Please be sure to enable the Dolby Pro Logic decoding on your receiver to properly play the 2.0 surround soundtrack.

4K scanning and digital image restoration: MTI Film, Hollywood.
Audio restoration: Deluxe Audio, Hollywood.
Color correction and conform: MTI with colorist Jimmy Tom.
Restoration supervisor: Rita Belda/Sony Pictures Entertainment."

Please note that some of the screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc.

Screencaptures #1-25 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #28-35 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

This film looks absolutely incredible after it was restored in 4K. It is spotless, it boasts stunningly vibrant organic visuals, and it is flawlessly graded. Not a single frame of it made me think that it may have, in some way, had its native appearance compromised. On the opposite, everything I saw on my system could not have been any more representative of how films looked in the theater during the 1980s. Delineation, clarity, and depth are outstanding. Some small density fluctuations can be observed, but they are introduced by the original cinematography, not digital anomalies. Fluidity is great. In native 4K, the film can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with Dolby Vision and thought that all areas of it looked terrific. I did not encounter any flattening or crushing during darker footage. (There is plenty of it). The outdoor footage looked very impressive. As noted above, color reproduction is enormously impressive. All primaries and supporting nuances look very healthy and are superbly balanced.

I spent time with the 1080p presentation on the Blu-ray as well. It is every bit as pleasing as the native 4K presentation. In fact, in a few areas, like the one where the gifted car is destroyed, I think that I prefer the look of the 1080p presentation. Why? Some of the moving grain looked less overexposed in select spots.

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

While there isn't any material with high-octane action that can create memorable dynamic contrasts, Herbie Hancock's jazzy score produces a lot of dynamic movement, and some of it is very effective because it is crucial for the intended atmosphere. All dialog is very clear, sharp, and easy to follow. I did not encounter any age-related anomalies to report.

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Bonus Features - there are no bonus features on the disc.

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Robert Townsend on Richard Pryor - in this new program, filmmaker Robert Townsend (Hollywood Shuffle) shares his thoughts on Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, and discusses Richard Pryor's troubled personal life and career. The program was produced for Criterion in 2024. In English, not subtitled. (18 min).

• The Dick Cavett Show - in this archival episode of The Dick Cavett Show, Richard Pryor discusses his career and working methods. The episode was filmed on October 14, 1985. In English, not subtitled. (48 min).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring Hilton Als' essay "Songs of Innocence and Experience" and techncial credits.

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Richard Pryor made America laugh at a time when people in his business were allowed to say anything that popped up in their minds. If Pryor and his colleagues thought it was funny, they said it, and this is why their craft feels almost revolutionary now. But the only feature film Pryor directed is not funny. It is a bruising intimate confession offering a glimpse into his hurting soul, battling some seriously powerful dark demons on his behalf that were eating him alive. Honestly, it is a pretty incredible film that a lot of different people just did not get. Criterion's combo pack introduces a flawless 4K restoration of it, recently completed at Sony Pictures Entertainment. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.