Adriano Celentano
Joan Lui

THE REVIEW

There are two types of films that get forgotten:

1) The really bad one, that is unwatchable, with terrible actors, poorly shot, and even worse scripted (which leaves nothing to the viewer and is thus forgotten).

2) The "uncomfortable!" one which, for some reason, was not accepted by the people!

This film definitely belongs to the second category!

Criticized heavily by both critics and the public, 'JOAN LUI' was labeled as a bad film! A colossal flop, a fall in style for Celentano, a triviality to forget, and more. In my opinion, these criticisms are just covers to hide the truth, which is... Joan Lui is an annoying film!! Not so much for its badness (as the irritated say) but especially for its content! The idea of Adriano Celentano as a messiah who returns to earth to preach commonplace parables against the modern consumerist and conformist society in a corrupt political social system is almost UNACCEPTABLE!! How can a practicing Catholic or a well-thinking person go to the cinema to see Celentano as Jesus Christ venting in an apotheosis of anti-social sermons complete with healing the crippled and a final apocalypse? No no! The "masses" cannot accept these things. We like technology, we like the consumer system, we like falsehood and hypocrisy, we like violence,... In this society, there is no more room for a new Jesus! Especially if it's played by an entertainer in a mystical and omnipotent crisis like Celentano! All of this is inconceivable to the people... that’s why in my opinion Joan Lui is a masterpiece!!

The greatness of this film lies in people's reactions! If it had been a success, I myself would have considered it a failure. The purpose of the film is also (and especially) to provoke, if people accept it happily, it means the provocation didn’t succeed, and thus the film failed. Celentano had enviable courage in creating a mega film at a billion-dollar cost just to express his ideas! No one today would dare to do something like this! But Adriano is Adriano! And he has always stood out for his anarchic spirit and his desire for rebellion (which unfortunately, being an artist, occurred only in fiction... let's recall he lives in a multi-billion dollar villa surrounded by dozens of bodyguards, preaches against hunting but buys a mink coat for his wife... but artists are like that!), in the past he had already demonstrated amazing skill in experimentation and artistic anarchy (I refer to his masterpiece Yuppi Du), in 'Joan Lui' the costs increased and the production became colossal, Celentano had the opportunity to fully express his extravagant messianic ideologies... of course, the public's reactions were negative, people leaving theaters appalled and respectable families scandalized... this is art!

Unfortunately, films like this are no longer made, nowadays there is a commercial scheme that you must adapt to otherwise you get cut out. It must be said that even 'Joan Lui' unfortunately was targeted by censorship for the television version, the film initially lasted three hours and had a different (and heavier) edit... but after the unstoppable controversies it caused in theaters, Celentano himself re-edited the film to make it lighter for the home audience... despite this, the content remained of high provocative content. I had the incredible fortune to see the uncut version... the one that made people flee from cinemas!

The film's beginning with the drawn-out timing à la Sergio Leone is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen... on a steam train populated by drug addicts, racists, and people with souls now extinguished, the figure of "Joan Lui" materializes! A man dressed extravagantly, with a stick in hand and a bandana on his head... it’s him! It’s Jesus Christ! And he has come back for the second time! Times have changed and to get closer to the modern generation, Joan decides to express himself by singing and dancing... after seeing Italy reduced to shambles, he decides to sign a record deal with a famous manager (Judas in person!!) to launch his sermons through the media power of TV, but along with him on earth, there is also the incarnation of Satan, the Magi, and all the disciples of the father... Between one song and another Joan reforms his team just like in old times and is ready for another dinner, unfortunately, Satan, who is obviously represented by the richest man in the world (money=devil), will try to put sticks in his wheels... what presents itself to the eyes of Celentano/Christ is a world now beyond recovery! Drugs and crime have reached unimaginable levels, pollution has suffocated the world and money god has replaced the true god!

'Joan Lui' then decides to launch his last sermon to the world during a television broadcast (an epic monologue!) to then unleash nothing less than the apocalypse! The film ends without audio with the image of a bloody hand among the rubble holding a ticket with "I love you!!!" written on it! An unprecedented Celentanian masterpiece! For the entire duration of the film, director Celentano manages to create apocalyptic settings of extreme impact! It looks like you are really witnessing the last days of planet earth! Huge chaotic and confused Hollywoodian sets and wonderful musical performances in which Adriano creates mystical atmospheres that almost scare! Like the "Temple" one where during a performance, Joan Lui gives way to scenes of mass delirium (the wind rises creating a sort of hurricane that destroys everything, day and night get confused, people in pseudo-convulsion panic screams at the sensation of the divine, crippled people enter the dance floor and are healed by Celentano), incredible!! The mystical omnipotence of Adriano reaches unimaginable levels! He has a giant Easter egg sent to the reincarnation of Satan with a puppet of himself inside and a crucifix! During the last evening, Satan hangs the puppet of Celentano on the cross and then pierces its heart with a spear! (in the scene censored by Italian TV and VHS, Satan during the apocalypse defecates in a hand and throws it at the face of the cross!!!), Adriano speaks on television foreshadowing his style that years later we will see in his broadcasts like the much-discussed Rockpolitik, "do not kill! A news bulletin should start like this.. do not kill!, and it must be shouted because people at home are deaf". A film, a legend!

Of course, a myriad of Trash scenes aren't missing, but they don't damage the film because you must expect anything from Celentano! He is the king of ignorance, a free spirit and Trash is what the masses do not accept... "garbage" meaning "we don’t like it, it’s disgusting, to be thrown away"... that’s what I love about Joan Lui! A film we should all love because it had the courage to do whatever it damn well pleased! This should be cinema!!! A free source of expression. Which unfortunately it’s no longer!

Long live trash! Long live bad taste! Long live kitsch! Long live provocation! Long live great auteur cinema!

'Joan Lui' is all this!!!!