Joan Lui

Joan Lui
Italian theatrical release poster by Renato Casaro
Directed byAdriano Celentano
Written byAdriano Celentano
Produced byMario & Vittorio Cecchi Gori
Starring
CinematographyAlfio Contini
Edited byAdriano Celentano
Music byAdriano Celentano
Pinuccio Pirazzoli
Ronny Jackson
Gino Santercole
Distributed byVariety Distribution
Release date
  • 1985 (1985)
Running time
163 min
133 min (cut edition)
125 min (Home Video cut)
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

Joan Lui (also known as Joan Lui - Ma un giorno nel paese arrivo io di lunedì) is a 1985 Italian musical comedy film by Adriano Celentano. It was the fourth and the last films Celentano wrote, starred in and directed.

Plot

Joan Lui is a singer who has come from another world to condemn the hypocrisy and atrocities of the Western culture. When he arrives in Italy, he seeks to create a band composed of young and inexperienced musicians to better spread his message. After having exposed the deception of a major musical producer, Joan Lui disappears into thin air. Meanwhile, the world is plunged into a terrible apocalypse.

Cast

Soundtrack

  1. L'uomo perfetto
  2. Sex without Love
  3. Il tempio
  4. Mistero
  5. Lunedì
  6. Qualcosa nascerà
  7. Splendida e nuda
  8. L'ora è guinta
  9. La prima stella

Production

The film was the center of a dispute between Mario and Vittorio Cecchi Gori and Celentano as the producers decided, a month after theatrical release, to replace the original cut with another version with a different editing and 30 minutes shorter.[1][2]

Reception

The film was a box office bomb, grossing 7.3 billion lire at the Italian box office in spite of a budget of about 20 billion lire.

The film also received generally bad reviews. Morando Morandini described it as "an enormous music video based on visual shock, jam-packed with music, with some monumental sets and elaborate editing. A true festival of kitsch also on an ideological level".[3] According to Paolo Mereghetti the film, "a personal reading of Christianity in musicals", "a personal delusion of omnipotence", and "a mock-apocalyptic madness that is just able to list the worst clichés of indifference".[4]

References

  1. ^ Poppi, Roberto (2000). I film - 5: Dal 1980 al 1989. 1, A-L. Dizionario del cinema italiano (in Italian). Rome: Gremese. ISBN 88-7742-423-0.
  2. ^ Giusti, Marco (1999). Dizionario dei film italiani stracult (in Italian). Milan: Sperling & Kupfer. ISBN 88-200-2919-7.
  3. ^ Morandini, Laura; Morandini, Morando; Morandini, Luisa (1999). Il Morandini: dizionario dei film 2000 (in Italian). Bologna: Zanichelli. ISBN 88-08-02037-1.
  4. ^ Mereghetti, Paolo (2010). Il Mereghetti: dizionario dei film 2011 (in Italian). Milan: Baldini Castoldi Dalai. ISBN 978-88-6073-626-0.