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KarlPallmeyer
Posted October 1, 2010
Richard Pryor, up close and personal
Watching "Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling" is a bit like being in a bar, sitting next to a total stranger who begins to tell you his life story. It's an uncomfortable situation and you find yourself alternately embarrased and appalled, but totally engrossed and ultimately sympathic to this man's plight. You begin to wonder how a man who has suffered so much can produce so many laughs.
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The movie is autobiographical, with artistic license taken from time to time, but it really gets at the soul of the man who was Richard Pryor. Many Pryor fans may be shocked -- not at the language, but with the emotional frankness with which Richard reveals himself. And he admits that he has brought much sorrow on himself and the ones who have loved him.
Casual fans will probably be put off by the lack of laughs, but those willing to dig a little deeper will come away with an understanding of Pryor and the pain that he was able to forge into incredible comedy -- comedy that exposed more truth about society than many artists, philosophers, writers, or social reformers of the 20th century.