It was only a matter of time before my Bf caved and took me to the movie I demanded he see with me since I missed seeing it with a clan of girls due to plans with him.. But boy, did I make him pay. It was 100% girl power, 100% girlicious, 100% lesbian-chic & lesbian-grittty. And I loved it.
The movie starts off with a drop of blood on the cement — I, being the obnoxious movie watcher I am, cooed to said Bf, "It's nail polish! I just know it!," as I geared up for the movie to feature '70s glitz and glamour as a sixth main character — but it was blood. Period blood, to be exact. And so begins the luscious and lush girly coming-of-age tale about the girls from the first successful all-girl rock band, The Runaways, and particularly Cherie Currie, the lead singer and ridiculously prime sexy frontwoman (she was 15 when the band set out on the road).
Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart are white-hot in the film; in the same way for their stellar acting and bangin' voices, but in completely different ways as their characters. Dakota Fanning as lead singer Cherie easily commands a sexiness and intrigue in her waifish young body, which is a good reminder of how ripe she is to life and to such a sensual industry (we're excused for the inappropriateness of our thoughts as we get to vacation to the mindset of the '70s), and Kristen as Joan Jett is the sexy tough chick who seduces everything and everyone with her aggressive, forward attitude toward sex and her command of her sexuality. At one point I find vital, Jett is seen pissing on a man's guitar; he was in the band they were opening for and was being degrading to the girls. It's this show-no-mercy, "stand up for yourself" plus literally "stand up to pee" attitude that I think sums up Jett for a new generation who doesn't know her so well.
The whole movie is about experimentation on the road (Cherie is introduced to sex with a man quickly as she bags the band's roadie on the first tour, plus eventually she starts fooling around with Joan like most of the girls seem to), but what is experimentation on the road for Cherie, who runs herself ragged trying to keep up and even OD's, is life to Joan. And that is what separates Cherie and what makes her end up having to choose between living life on the road or a life of her own. (Since we all know or can easily search the band's history online, I think it's fair to say I'm not ruining the movie by saying she leaves them.)
It could've been the end for an ex-"concept band" guitarist like Joan, but luckily, the breakup with the band forces Joan to get out on her own with experience behind her, and an even greater familiarity with the sound she wants to put out, and she comes out with her greatest musical legacies when she links up with the Blackhearts (AKA "Bad Reputation," "I Love Rock & Roll," and "Crimson and Clover").
Rolling Stone said the movie had the ability to be truly provocative, but "pussied out" so to speak. If you ask me, the movie was quite liberated and seemed to ring true of the hedonism and sassiness one would expect from the baddest, most scandalous, trail-blazing chicks of rock & roll. If I can compare life on the road briefly to life in the locker room (growing up playing hockey and soccer I played with women sometimes 5 years my senior), you do grow up quickly and learn a lot about sex young. (Surprisingly, there was much less lesbian action in our rooms... maybe it was the lack of drugs.)
Either way, the movie was raunchy enough to truly remind me of those significant moments when you discover your womanhood and sexuality, sometimes with the help of others (chatting about first times, periods, and exactly how to give a hand-job), but also raunchy enough to be a little unreachable, as a rock & roll flick should be. Like when Joan directs one of her bandmates on how to masturbate using her hands and then the shower head while she hangs out just outside the shower curtain.
It's not exactly my childhood — but it was Cherie's and Joan's. And a few more runaway girls' who grew up on the road raising each other, looking out for each other, and loving each other (in all ways).
Throw in some cocaine and LSD, some superior girl power (the girls were told they shouldn't even play electric guitars) and some serious talent into the mix and maybe some of my childhood friends and I could've made this our lives. Danggg. And now I'm way too old to be like those rock & roll queens.
Now, it's only in all of our dirty dreams.
Wishfully thinking,
The Frotchstar
Check showtimes at The Globe to see for yourself! http://winnipegmovies.com/showtimes.php?thname=globe-cinema
The Trailer:
No comments:
Post a Comment