The Dark Side of the Sun (1988)

The ONLY good thing about this film is seeing a youthful Brad Pitt, before fame grabbed him. Yes, the landscape in pre-war Yugoslavia is beautiful as well. But truthfully, this movie is a dog. Terrible script, and awful acting, like some kid's junior high school film project. The dual personality Rick/Man in Black Leather Mask didn't really go anywhere. Frankly, with the mask on, Pitt is neither interesting, risky, or scary. The "carpe diem" theme has been done a million times before, and a whole lot better. Worst bar fight scene in film history too. The father seemed to be a good, sympathetic character, but the actor seemed to be in a straight-jacket, unable to really go with the feelings a father in his circumstances would be going through. My guess is this low budget, direct to video disaster eventually did better than break even just because of Pitt's fame, but trust me, it's not worth the two bucks.

This movie is so bad that IMDb eliminated the "goofs" section. For example, the movie is supposed to take place in Mexico but it took my wife 5 seconds to recognize that it was shot in Yugoslavia. It took me a little longer but I believed her when the first "Mexican" spoke in a Slavic accent so thick I smelled borscht in the room.Another goof is when the father goes to pray in a church and does it in front of an Orthodox icon. Mexicans are mostly Catholic and Catholics have statues, not icons in their churches. Brad Pitt removes his head gear and doesn't have a sign of "helmet head". And how about those moles on Cheryl Pollack's neck that appear and disappear depending on whether the makeup girl showed up for work.I could go on but, in summary, the acting is wooden, the story is mediocre and Cheryl Pollack's singing is terrible. Nine years to release a movie and it didn't get better with age.

I saw the review of the film last night and since it was a Brad Pitt film and the plot sounded interesting, I looked anxious for it.I can't say I didn't enjoy the film, it was touching and Brad Pitt did a good job considering it was one of his first roles, and the girl was pretty OK. However, I think his character lacked a bit in depth and sending emotion. The meeting scene in the bar was well done and their dialogues were pleasant, if not for being too deep, then just for Brad Pitt's presence.But I expected much more from such an interesting story line, and I think the fault for the final outcome is definitely the director's. The film lacked a lot in credibility, and what could have been a really tear jerker left me unable to cry, but with a lump in my throat and the feeling something was wrong about the movie...The ending scene with him completely full of blisters looked very unbelievable, when just the evening before he only had a few red lines on his chest. It's true the magic 3 day period was over, but it couldn't have happened all so suddenly.Then his skin and hair looking so perfect, considering he had spent all his life trapped in that suffocating leather costume...The fight scene, totally bad, when his father knocks three guys down with a slap...And a scene with a topless bimbo, disgusting and out of place.But if able to ignore some cheesy scenes and concentrate on Brad Pitt's performance, the film is not bad after all. It's just that it could have been much better...

Brad Pitt fans please note that this Yugoslavian film was first made in 1988 and edited for re-release in 1997 due to Brad Pitt's popularity.This film, I feel would fall into that so-bad-it's-good category. The acting from Guy Boyd as the father is nothing less than terrible, and Cheryl Pollak, although an attractive presence could have done slightly better too. There are also strange surreal scenes which really do not fit it and distract from the poignancy of one boy's story, eg a scene with an old man stamping on condoms (don't ask) and a long scene of Pollak singing to Pitt's dad! Apart from these faults it is actually a very enjoyable piece of tosh.Brad Pitt's performance can not be faulted as a young man who has been forced to live his entire life inside a leather shell with only two tiny holes for his eyes and one for his mouth. (No mention was made about how he goes to toilet, or bathes come to that!). Pitt put across well to the viewer the internal emotional torture that his character felt by not being able to go out in the world and do normal young man things, and showed that although he was wearing the suit to stop the external torture of the sun blistering his body, his inner feelings which are actually more important in a lot of ways were constantly hurting. On doing some research after the film I found that the skin disease isn't actually medically right, but it seemed real and I am sure there must be similar conditions.Pitt's character falls in love with Pollak's character in the story, so decided to take off the suit and live a few days of happiness with her out in the sun, despite it meaning the end of his life. He then gets hurt even more when he tries to kiss her and she turns away, realizing that she only fancies him back when he is in the suit. So it is more the air of mystery and the fascination on her part which makes her like him, not him as a person. She actually asks him where his masked "friend" is.When Pitt comes along in the mask she decides to allow him to make love to her, but of course this has to be done in the dark. She doesn't realize who he is until he leaves a locket behind for her to see. The ending is then extremely poignant but I will say no more in case you do ever get to see it.In summary I would definitely recommend that all Pitt fans and even males who are just interested in rare movies lol give this a go!