New Take on ‘The Color Purple’ Works Overall; Zachary Quinto and Jacob Elordi Headline Inert ‘He Went That Way’
thegavoice.comDirector Steven Spielberg’s 1985 version of Alice Walker’s classic, “The Color Purple,” has always been heavily debated.
Many knock it for being too tidy and toning down the lesbian love story at its heart. Others, though, consider it a classic and a film that has withstood the test of time a lot better than the movie it lost the Best Picture Oscar to, “Out of Africa.” A new version of Walker’s work is out now, directed by Blitz Bazawule and based on the musical version that premiered at Alanta’s Alliance Theatre in 2004 and made it to Broadway.
With Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey (who starred in the original), and Quincy Jones among its producers, this take on “The Color Purple” doesn’t have as much power as its predecessor, but does have many stellar moments.
Marcus Gardley’s screenplay follows Celie (played by Phylicia Pearl Mpasi as a child and Fantasia Barrino as an adult) who progresses from a young woman living in Georgia facing abuse, an unhappy marriage to Mister (Colman Domingo), and separation from her sister, to an independent force.
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