Movie review time! "The Runaways"
So me and my girls went to see the Joan Jett biopic The Runaways on Friday.
This story of rebellion and "girl power" left me a bit wanting....
The movie primarily told the story of The Runaways' frontwoman Cherie Currie and guitarist Joan Jett. I was expecting an epic of female empowerment and the ground-breaking idea of women playing cool music. And there was a *little* bit of that... but not terribly much. Mostly it was a story of the band's gritty beginnings, conceived by a slimy record producer, and basically these girls doing whatever he says, doing whatever it takes to make their music "sellable" to the chauvinist male audiences of the time (Cherie Currie is chosen to be in the band primarily due to her looks) and the girls' descent into the abyss of sex and drug addiction. The only remotely likable person in this movie (besides Sandy West) is Joan Jett... she believes in the music, she loves rock and roll--which eventually saves her, she believes in the band... and she loves Cherie and you can tell that she hates watching her self-destruct. The movie doesn't tell a whole lot about the other members of the band (Lita Ford, Sandy West (the drummer, who I would have liked to have seen more of), and Jackie Fox).
This movie inspires me to read the Cherie Currie's autobiography Neon Angel: Memoir of Runaway... isn't book always better than the movie?
Also, to those curious about Dakota Fanning's first "adult" performance... I thought it was a bit understated... it's like she knows she's making an artsy pic and isn't trying to chew the scenery, but she's not trying to make a big splash, either.... Sort of like she doesn't have much clue what's going on, which is probably actually a pretty good parallel of the person she's playing on the screen. I think it worked in this instance.
This story of rebellion and "girl power" left me a bit wanting....
The movie primarily told the story of The Runaways' frontwoman Cherie Currie and guitarist Joan Jett. I was expecting an epic of female empowerment and the ground-breaking idea of women playing cool music. And there was a *little* bit of that... but not terribly much. Mostly it was a story of the band's gritty beginnings, conceived by a slimy record producer, and basically these girls doing whatever he says, doing whatever it takes to make their music "sellable" to the chauvinist male audiences of the time (Cherie Currie is chosen to be in the band primarily due to her looks) and the girls' descent into the abyss of sex and drug addiction. The only remotely likable person in this movie (besides Sandy West) is Joan Jett... she believes in the music, she loves rock and roll--which eventually saves her, she believes in the band... and she loves Cherie and you can tell that she hates watching her self-destruct. The movie doesn't tell a whole lot about the other members of the band (Lita Ford, Sandy West (the drummer, who I would have liked to have seen more of), and Jackie Fox).
This movie inspires me to read the Cherie Currie's autobiography Neon Angel: Memoir of Runaway... isn't book always better than the movie?
Also, to those curious about Dakota Fanning's first "adult" performance... I thought it was a bit understated... it's like she knows she's making an artsy pic and isn't trying to chew the scenery, but she's not trying to make a big splash, either.... Sort of like she doesn't have much clue what's going on, which is probably actually a pretty good parallel of the person she's playing on the screen. I think it worked in this instance.