by Mark Baratelli
Published March 30, 2010
The story of "The Runaways" is simple and sometimes stretched, but seeing this 1970s power band go from obscurity to Japanese fame through director Floria Sigismondi's editing is a fun ride overall.
Joan Jett (Kristin Stewart) is a brave teen walking up to music producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) at the Rodney Bingenheimer-owned English Disco on Sunset Strip in the early 1970s. The whacked-out Fowley teams her up with a few straggling female musicians and forms a lady-band via multiple abusive (yet helpful) rehearsals in the crummy intestines of a one-room trailer. "The Runaways" is born.
Before we see 15 year old lead singer Cherie Currie (Daktoa Fanning, also 15) quit the band that made her famous, we see her cut her hair off, imitate David Bowie, leave a bad family situation, get swept into an abusive working relationship, squat and scream on stage in a bustier in public, snort coke in an airplane bathroom, have underage sex and delve deep into a boozy druggy failure. So its no shock when she leaves opportunity. It is shocking to learn that in 2010, the real Cherie Currie has become an accomplished chainsaw artist. Random, kooky and best of all drug-free.
Jett is a more simple story: brave butch chases dreams and wins. Not uninteresting, and Stewart is charming in the role.
The best scene of the film (and there are many good scenes) is near the end. Currie, dressed in stage-worthy porn-stume, pushes a shopping cart in a grocery store, stumbling over her gigantic platforms and tries to buy two onions and a gallon of vodka. If this scene is based on reality, I want to give the real Currie a hug and the director a high five.
“The Runaways” is Rated R.
THE RUNAWAYS
Total Running Time: 109 MIN
Premieres April 9, 2010 at Regal Winter Park Village
Published March 30, 2010
The story of "The Runaways" is simple and sometimes stretched, but seeing this 1970s power band go from obscurity to Japanese fame through director Floria Sigismondi's editing is a fun ride overall.
Joan Jett (Kristin Stewart) is a brave teen walking up to music producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) at the Rodney Bingenheimer-owned English Disco on Sunset Strip in the early 1970s. The whacked-out Fowley teams her up with a few straggling female musicians and forms a lady-band via multiple abusive (yet helpful) rehearsals in the crummy intestines of a one-room trailer. "The Runaways" is born.
Before we see 15 year old lead singer Cherie Currie (Daktoa Fanning, also 15) quit the band that made her famous, we see her cut her hair off, imitate David Bowie, leave a bad family situation, get swept into an abusive working relationship, squat and scream on stage in a bustier in public, snort coke in an airplane bathroom, have underage sex and delve deep into a boozy druggy failure. So its no shock when she leaves opportunity. It is shocking to learn that in 2010, the real Cherie Currie has become an accomplished chainsaw artist. Random, kooky and best of all drug-free.
Jett is a more simple story: brave butch chases dreams and wins. Not uninteresting, and Stewart is charming in the role.
The best scene of the film (and there are many good scenes) is near the end. Currie, dressed in stage-worthy porn-stume, pushes a shopping cart in a grocery store, stumbling over her gigantic platforms and tries to buy two onions and a gallon of vodka. If this scene is based on reality, I want to give the real Currie a hug and the director a high five.
“The Runaways” is Rated R.
THE RUNAWAYS
Total Running Time: 109 MIN
Premieres April 9, 2010 at Regal Winter Park Village