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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
    English, Hungarian, English - Hearing Impaired, Swedish
  Extras
  • Theatrical trailer
  • 4 Music video -
    New Power Generation
    The Question of U
    Thieves in the Temple
    Round & Round
Prince - Graffiti Bridge
/Warner Home Video . R4 . COLOR . 85 mins . PG . PAL

  Feature
Contract

A sequel to Purple Rain sounds exciting, doesn't it? In theory, the idea of revisiting the Kid, the Revolution and the Time is a great idea. Unfortunately, Graffiti Bridge is the sequel to Purple Rain and it's terrible. If you read my review of Purple Rain you will see that I love that film and don’t really have a bad thing to say about it. Prince’s next foray into film, Under the Cherry Moon is a problematic film, but at least it looks interesting. Graffiti Bridge has no redeeming qualities; even the music is terrible.

The story picks up seven years after Purple Rain and the Kid (Prince) now runs the First Avenue Club and shares ownership with Morris Day of The Time. Day and his band believe the Kid is wasting money and playing music no one wants to hear. A bizarre poet named Aura (Ingrid Chavez) enters the lives of the two men and wants to save their souls before the two are consumed by their weaknesses. Morris Day from his greed and the Kid from his insecurity.

Unlike Under the Cherry Moon, this film returns to the musical focus that made Purple Rain successful. But this time around all the peformances by Prince and The Time contribute nothing to the overall story. Each time there is musical performance from any artist it seems completely pointless and out of place.

All three Prince movies had limited funding and for the first two films this wasn't a disadvantage. For Purple Rain, the fact that it was made on the cheap actually works in favour of the style and plot of the film. Under the Cherry Moon is visually appealing with the unique black and white imagery very effective.

Graffiti Bridge is only impaired by its low budget, the film just looks cheap. The songs are okay, but are not enough to make this film watchable. The screenplay is the worst thing about this film, it makes no sense. The Jaws: The Revenge script makes more sense that the complete mess that is the Graffiti Bridge. After you watch this film (I recommend you don’t) you will be wishing you hadn’t, because it really is a waste of your viewing time. I would go so far as to recommend you watch Jaws: The Revenge rather than Graffiti Bridge

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
Contract

Graffiti Bridge is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and is 16:9 enhanced. Edge enhancment is present throughout the entire running time of the film and is painfully obvious. Skin tones are realistic and colors are generally good with no color bleeding or saturation problems. Like the Under the Cherry Moon transfer, there is an overall softness to images and constant dirt and grain visible. Graffiti Bridge is the worst transfer of the three Prince films. While the grain and softness apparent in Under the Cherry Moon were noticeable, on this release they really affect the overall visual enjoyment of the film.

The audio transfer is a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround mix that is solid and primarily unproblematic. However, there are a few instances of volume drops and some major synch issues during some of the musical numbers. Like Purple Rain, this film contains quite a few musical performances and this soundtrack doesn’t serve the music well. The surround occasionally spreads across all channels, but this only makes synch issues more apparent.

It's a treat for Prince fans that all three Prince films are being released on DVD with extra features. Graffiti Bridge is released with a trailer and some music videos.

Theatrical Trailer: A nice little trailer for a film that was in theatres for about a second in the U.S. and went straight to video everywhere else.

Music Videos
Thieves in the Temple
New Power Generation
Round and Round
The Question of Us

Although the music for this film is not as memorable as that within Purple Rain, it’s an added extra that these music videos are included as I doubt you are ever going to see them on any music channel.

I really wish Prince had just gone back to his music after Purple Rain because he really is a very talented musician and has rarely made a mistake with any of his musical releases. Graffiti Bridge is the worst movie of the Prince triple, so it seems fitting that it receive the worst DVD transfer of the Prince celluloid collection.


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  •   And I quote...
    "Graffiti Bridge is the worst movie of the Prince triple, so it seems fitting that it receive the worst DVD transfer of the Prince celluloid collection."
    - Rebecca Taylor
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Sony DAV-S300
    • TV:
          Sony KDE 42XBR950 Plasma
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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