Not to go on and on about Idelwild, but I finally saw it last night and it's just amazing.Sure it's a little uneven story-wise, but I am such a sucker for pop/rock movies and this is the best showcase musical since Purple Rain hands down.
Driving inspiration (whether it knows it or not) from everything from Bollywood to Cab Calloway to Electric Dreams to Under the Cherry Moon, Idelwild is consistantly entertaining and inventive nevertheless.
It exists in a cultural bubble driven by fantasy, not historical accuracy, which many critics are attacking. But weren't most musicals made in 30s and 40s completely blind to the cultural and political reality of their own times? Idelwild paints an African-American Southern experience beyond racial bariers, and has a hell of a time doing so.
