Xanadu

Xanadu is a film that has direct link to my own personal life. According to my parents, they associate one of the songs from the film “Magic” with my own birth during the time it was a major pop hit. This film review, however, has nothing at all to do with such a selfish understanding of it. That aforementioned song was sung by Olivia-Newton John, the leading lady of the movie. She died today at the age of 73. Xanadu is a film that wound up having a personal relationship to me in a more grounded way. That being said, tend to view it as a very misunderstood film. So what is Xanadu about and what makes it special?

This is actually something of a remake of a 1947 film entitled Down To Earth. But the story of Xanadu is that of a frustrated graphic artist Sonny Malone, played by Michael Beck. As he is about to give up on his imaginative ideas, he encounters a muse named Kira, played by Olivia-Newton John, who encourages him to combine his love of roller skating, visual art and rock music into something special. Sonny also befriends an elderly clarinet player named Danny, portrayed by the iconic Gene Kelly. Danny, as it turns out, was actually inspired himself by Kira in his past. Together, they all work through personal barriers, include Kira being bound by the rules for the muses of Mount Olympus, to open up a cross generationally themed roller disco that was the title of the move.

Xanadu is sadly a film that’s known less for its story than for its pop culture infamy. It took a lot of hits in its time and since. It was savaged by critics as a revival of the music musical fantasy genre that was then considered embarrassing and in bad taste at the time. Michael Beck’s acting as leading man, among other things, also led the film to becoming a key inspiration for the Golden Raspberry Awards. To add salt to the wound, a late 2000s Broadway musical adaption basically made fun of the movie as a “kitsch classic”. So that begs the question. How come I’ve always viewed the film, from first seeing it at 10 years old, as almost anything but a “kitsch classic?

The answer could be in the same uniqueness that was probably its pop culture undoing. Xanadu inspired me to realize that optimism about ones creativity and art can be a wonderful thing-that art isn’t mutually exclusive to terrible suffering. This is a film that, from its own time to present, came along when Hollywood tended to embrace a nihilistic either/or approach to film. Either a movie was supposed to be super sunny and colorful, or more preferably gloomy, violent and cynical. Xanadu‘s legacy was best summed up by YouTube reviewer Note’s Reviews. And I’ll paraphrase his outlook on both the film and musical version here. In short, Xanadu simply disrupts any either/or ideas, past or present, in Hollywood film making.

Especially in musical fantasy films of the last decade or two, for that matter most films relating to having creative dreams and visions, there’s always a cynical tradeoff. Especially in terms of romantic relationships. You either lose the one you love or your creative idea. Xanadu portrays it internal conflicts as being mainly how the characters get to their end goals. And that goal and Malone’s romance for the muse Kira are both satisfied. Sonny Malone has to literally fight Zeus himself by skating into a painted brick wall that is a gateway to Mount Olympus. Also just the idea of Kelly’s Danny, a man of the GI generation in love with big band swing, and Sonny Malone as a baby boomer in love with glam rock, find out through a musical number in the film that both their generational tastes actually have more similarities than they realized.

Zanadu also introduced me to my later fascination with the romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whose poem Kubla Khan coined the “pleasure dome” whose name titled this film. Another thing view would disagree on with this film is its amazing soundtrack. Not only was this my introduction to the music of Olivia-Newton John. But also to that of Electric Light Orchestra, The Tubes, Gene Kelly and big band jazz in general. Such a diverse set of songs. Despite growing up surrounded by the interpersonal nihilism that branded Xanadu as a crown jewel of bad taste? Its a film that, even to this day, serves as its own muse that inspires me think outside the cynical cultural boxes that are all around us everyday. And cannot think of a better tribute to the late Olivia-Newton John than to say….her participation in this film was part of me being kissed, rather than put off, by the muse of Xanadu.