Under the Cherry Moon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Under the Cherry Moon Blu-ray Movie Review

How to Marry a Millionairess

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 9, 2016

After the surprise success of Purple Rain, what would Prince do for a followup? The answer came two years later with the July 1986 release of Under the Cherry Moon, a period romance presented in black-and-white, set on the French Riviera and featuring the Artist Formerly Known as The Kid in the unlikely role of a gigolo. Jaws dropped, eyes rolled and the film flopped. The soundtrack album, entitled Parade, was a critical and commercial success, but Cherry Moon ended up taking home five Razzie Awards: Worst Actor (Prince), Worst Director (Prince again), Worst Original Song (Prince a third time), Worst Supporting Actor (Jerome Benton) and Worst Picture (tying with Howard the Duck). It was a fitting end to a troubled production during which the original director was fired, the star assumed control (with uncredited assistance from his cinematographer) and major roles were recast at the last minute.

Thirty years later, Cherry Moon still isn't a good film, but it's an intriguing curiosity with some surprisingly good moments, most of them courtesy of future Oscar nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient), who made her feature debut in Cherry Moon and has since dismissed it as a career mistake. Warner has newly transferred the film for its Prince Movie Collection, which includes all three of Prince's cinematic outings in the Warner library. (The title is also available separately.)

Cherry Moon is the story of an impossible romance between Christopher Tracy (Prince) and Mary Sharon (Scott Thomas). He's an American hustler seducing well-heeled women in the seaside French town of Nice, and she's the 20-year-old daughter of a wealthy family who is about to gain control of a $50 million trust fund. But Mary is considerably younger than Christopher's usual clientele, typified by Mrs. Wellington (Francesca Annis), an elegant society woman who just happens to be the mistress of Mary's imperious father, Isaac (Steven Berkoff). What begins as a business venture for Christopher and a novelty for Mary gradually turns serious, to the consternation of Isaac Sharon, who has arranged a more suitable match for his daughter with the son of a business partner. (He's as mercenary as Christopher, just not as much fun.)

The film opens with a voiceover informing us that Christopher dies for love, but viewers might be pardoned for deeming that a metaphor, because almost none of Cheery Moon plays like the tragic love story of which the outlines can be dimly discerned beneath the frenetic activity and erratic shifts in tone. The film veers wildly from comedy to romance to melodrama, then back again to comedy, with most of the latter supplied by Christopher's brother, Tricky (Jerome Benton), who is allegedly his co-conspirator and enabler, but mostly seems to be there as the kind of bantering sidekick that Benton usually plays opposite Morris Day (with whom he's better matched). It's hard to tell how much of this odd mixture results from the original script by Becky Johnston (who would go on to co-write The Prince of Tides and Seven Years in Tibet) and how much is the product of on-the-job learning by a first-time director. Maybe a helmer other than the star himself could have elicited a more focused performance, highlighting Christopher's mercenary and calculating side so that his change of heart when he falls for Mary would have greater dramatic weight. As things stand, Prince gives a one-note performance, portraying Christopher as a sweet innocent, a perpetual entertainer who just wants to make people happy. That the rebellious Mary falls for this sprightly waif with his outlandish wardrobe is hardly a surprise, especially since her father disapproves.

Prince and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus compose some beautiful frames, taking full advantage of the picturesque Côte d'Azur surroundings, which look gorgeous even without the benefit of color. Scott Thomas plays Mary with a glowing insouciance that foreshadows her memorable comedic turns in superior projects like Four Weddings and a Funeral. Berkoff glowers and fumes in the underwritten part of Mary's father, which is a shame, because he can be an effective villain with the right material (e.g., Beverly Hills Cop). Prince's band, the Revolution, doesn't appear until the closing credits, where they perform with the star, who is still costumed as Christopher. Given how the plot turns out, it's one of the strangest "curtain calls" on record.

Under the Cherry Moon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Under the Cherry Moon was shot (and sometimes co-directed) by the great German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, who must have found it strange to add Prince to his list of notable collaborators, which includes Rainer Werner Fassbinder (e.g., The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant), Mike Nichols (Working Girl) and Martin Scorsese (from After Hours through The Departed). As best as I have been able to determine, the film was shot in color, then converted to black-and-white in post-production. For this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, Warner's Motion Picture Imaging has done a new scan at 2K from a fine-grain master positive, followed by cleanup and repair of any damage or age-related flaws. The result is a nicely detailed image with solid blacks and finely delineated shades of gray that allow generous appreciation of the film's elaborate costume and production design, which is often so visually busy that, were it in color, it might be overwhelming. Post-processing to remove color appears to have softened the image somewhat, but the film's grain pattern is natural and finely resolved. Warner has mastered Cherry Moon at the high average bitrate that has become standard for its catalog releases, specifically, 35.02 Mbps.

Under the Cherry Moon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Under the Cherry Moon was released in Dolby Stereo, which has been encoded for this Blu-ray release in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. The soundtrack is much less busy than the visual design, focusing primarily on dialogue (which is clear most of the time) and the musical score by Prince and the Revolution. The dynamic range and bass extension are sufficient to provide effective renderings of signature musical selections such as "Kiss" (which is probably the best-known song from the soundtrack). Perhaps with a bigger budget, the seaside surroundings would have been more fully re-created by the soundtrack, but the environmental effects are just enough to tell the story.

Under the Cherry Moon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The sole extra is the film's trailer, which has been remastered in 1080p (1.78:1; 1:27). Missing are the music videos that appeared on Warner's 2004 DVD of Under the Cherry Moon.

Under the Cherry Moon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Cherry Moon isn't nearly the narrative mess that is Graffiti Bridge, which was Prince's next (and last) non-concert film, but it does demand both patience and tolerance from the viewer. It's unlikely that anyone but Prince fanatics will last all the way to the end, but for those fans, Warner has provided a superior presentation that is a pleasant surprise and, on that basis, recommended.