Xanadu is his last chance to experience the creative fulfillment he once had. Danny had loved Kira before, yet stopped creating music after she left. Danny and Sonny are drawn together based on their shared love of Kira. Kelly plays Danny McGuire, a construction titan who was once a conductor for a big band orchestra. Who was he before the muse and where is his authorial voice that she is investing in?īeck’s idealistic blank slate is part of what makes Gene Kelly’s work so powerful. It’s hard to understand what his relationship is with magic throughout the film. Though he looks the part and gives it his all, Beck’s Sonny is in an uncanny valley created by the plot. His floppy hair and giant grin makes him a believably idealistic artist, with a head filled with passion rather than brains. Michael Beck’s performance as Sonny is comically obtuse. The two develop an instant connection talking through this dream nightclub. He’s correct! Kira leads him inside to the dilapidated building, telling him that it should be turned into a club - Xanadu. He runs out to find this building, hoping she will be there waiting for him.
Later that day at his soul-crushing album recreation job, Sonny notices Kira on the cover of this album, set in front of an art deco building. Eight of the nine muses rush back up to Olympus, while one, Kira (Olivia Newton-John), skates over to Sonny, kisses him and then skates away. This sketch floats towards a Venice mural of the Nine Murals of Olympus, bringing them to life. Frustrated LA artist Sonny Malone (Michael Beck), barely characterized, tears up a sketch he’s been working on. Yes, Xanadu’s plot doesn’t really hold water. Instead, it’s an ambitious, messy, misunderstood masterpiece about the ebbs and flow of art and taste. Xanadu isn’t a “so bad it’s good” curio piece. Obviously the term “roller skating musical” doesn’t inspire much confidence in a film’s storytelling prowess. Yet, through hit songs like “Magic” and “Xanadu,” the film hung around long enough to become a cult classic. The Olivia Newton John 1980 roller skating musical was a bomb when it first opened. Have you ever watched a movie and realized it was instantly going to be part of your personality? Last weekend at a midnight screening of Xanadu, I thought I was merely filling a critical hole in my gay camp movie repertoire.
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