| Joan Lui | |
| Director: | Adriano Celentano |
| Music: | Adriano Celentano Pinuccio Pirazzoli Ronny Jackson Gino Santercole |
| Cinematography: | Alfio Contini |
| Editing: | Adriano Celentano |
| Producer: | Mario & Vittorio Cecchi Gori |
| Language: | Italian |
| Country: | Italy |
| Distributor: | Variety Distribution |
| Runtime: | 163 min 133 min (cut edition) 125 min (Home Video cut) |
Joan Lui (also known as Joan Lui - Ma un giorno nel paese arrivo io di lunedì) is a 1985 Italian musical comedy film by Adriano Celentano. It was the fourth and the last films Celentano wrote, starred in and directed.
Joan Lui is a singer who has come from another world to condemn the hypocrisy and atrocities of the Western culture. When he arrives in Italy, he seeks to create a band composed of young and inexperienced musicians to better spread his message. After having exposed the deception of a major musical producer, Joan Lui disappears into thin air. Meanwhile, the world is plunged into a terrible apocalypse.
Joan Lui
Tina Foster
Judy Johnson
Emanuela Carboni
Cap. Arthur
Winston
Musico
Temple singer
Jarak
Franky
Prime Minister
Frank
Bartender
Journalist
Assassin
The film was the center of a dispute between Mario and Vittorio Cecchi Gori and Celentano as the producers decided, a month after theatrical release, to replace the original cut with another version with a different editing and 30 minutes shorter.[1] [2]
The film was a box office bomb, grossing 7.3 billion lire at the Italian box office in spite of a budget of about 20 billion lire.
The film also received generally bad reviews. Morando Morandini described it as "an enormous music video based on visual shock, jam-packed with music, with some monumental sets and elaborate editing. A true festival of kitsch also on an ideological level".[3] According to Paolo Mereghetti the film, "a personal reading of Christianity in musicals", "a personal delusion of omnipotence", and "a mock-apocalyptic madness that is just able to list the worst clichés of indifference".[4]