1/1/1987 Unknown Source
The Cure In Orange Certificate: ** Running time: 113 mins.
With: The Cure (Robert Smith, Laurence Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Boris Williams).
Director: Tim Pope; Film Editor: Peter Goddard; Director of Photography: Chris Ashbrook; Stage lighting: Angus Macphail; Film lighting: Zenith lighting; Sound recordist: David Allen; Executive Producer: Chris Parry; Producer: Gordon Lewis; Distributor: Blue Dolphin Films.
No, this isn’t filmed with a sickly fruit-colored filter - Orange is the name of a town in the Provence region of France where doomy rock band The Cure were filmed in concert, at one of the oldest amphitheaters in France.
It’s a straightforward concert film and whether you like it will depend entirely on whether you like The Cure to start with. I do, but there’s no getting away from the impression that they haven’t the slightest semblance of a stage act - they move around about as much as the classical statue set precariously in the wall, behind the band, 50 feet above singer Robert Smith’s head.
Still, the setting is spectacular, the crowd enthusiastic and the band plays most of its hits of the last few years - "Killing An Arab", "The Walk", "Let’s Go To Bed", "Boys Don’t Cry" and so on. And on, and on, because there are 23 songs in all, though the number might be cut by the time the film goes to general release, subject to the band’s approval.
The virtue of the film’s unfussy direction by Tim Pope (an experienced maker of pop videos for Bryan Ferry, Style Council, Siouxsie And The Banshees as well as The Cure) is that it captures the big-concert atmosphere faithfully without the sort of stylised chaos of many pop videos. The lighting is sharp and the music clearly recorded, and the cameras move from close-ups of sunken-eyed Smith to stunning long-shots of the stage and amphitheater. It’s almost as good as being there.
