Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Richard Pryor

Writers:

Rocco Urbisci (writer) &
Paul Mooney (writer) ...

Release Date:

2 May 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

After severely burning himself in a drug incident, a comedian has a near death experience in which he reviews his life.

Plot Keywords:

Comedian | Drugs | Death | Hospital | Stand Up Comedian

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Richard Pryor	...	Jo Jo Dancer / Alter Ego
Debbie Allen	...	Michelle
Art Evans	...	Arturo
Fay Hauser	...	Grace
Barbara Williams	...	Dawn
Carmen McRae	...	Grandmother
Paula Kelly	...	Satin Doll
Diahnne Abbott	...	Mother
Scoey Mitchell	...	Father
Billy Eckstine	...	Johnny Barnett
Tanya Boyd	...	Alicia
Wings Hauser	...	Cliff
E'Lon Cox	...	Little Jo Jo
Michael Ironside	...	Det. Lawrence
J.J. Barry	...	Sal

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Richard Pryor's autobiographical film and his directorial debut. The movie was filmed in Los Angeles and in Peoria at the actual locations where much of the story takes place.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Century of Black Cinema (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

GOIN' TO CHICAGO BLUES

Unworthy of financial failure

I'm not sure if a biographical film as raw and truthful as "Jo Jo Dancer" ever had a chance to be a big financial hit. But viewed now, more than 15 years later, it is obvious that the film did not deserve the critical drubbing it got back in the day. Writer-director-producer-star Richard Pryor created a very strong film, simultaneously entertaining, funny, pathetic, provocative, heartbreaking, revealing, and raw. Two things held it back. Firstly, it was too rough for the super-slick mid-80s, being shot and structured more like a seventies film. Secondly, even though the climax of the film--Jo Jo setting himself on fire in a harrowing, drug-fueled despair--is powerful, it lacks a sense of closure. Sadly, the reason for this is that, like the real life Richard Pryor upon whose life the story is based, Jo Jo doesn't die at the end. He is badly burned and we are briefly shown that he lives to continue his career, just as Pryor did.

The story is told through flashbacks, after Jo Jo has set himself on fire, focusing on how he got to that point. Since the story abruptly ends soon after his suicide attempt, however, we are not shown much of what happens after that point. In an odd bit of irony, Jo Jo's survival then makes for an unsatisfying conclusion, story-wise. It's as though Pryor is saying, hey I burned myself up and that made me all better. It just isn't satisfying.

Other than those minor points, however, "Jo Jo" is a fine film that stands as one of the best of Pryor's spotty film career, and one of the very few dramatic films that allowed his unique brand of rage and vulnerability to show through completely ("Blue Collar" and "The Mack" being two others).

Not a classic, but certainly not the bomb it was painted as in '86. And, I might add, head and shoulders above the majority of dramatic films cranked out by hollywood today.