Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX
Fellow Movie Lovers
THE RUNAWAYS……..
Has certainly proven worthy of its R rating. It is the tale of Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) and the formation of the first female rock band.
The year is 1975. The Vietnam War finally concludes; Gerald Ford has inherited the presidency; Bill Gates and Paul Allen launch Microsoft and the birth of the computer comes forth with a wail; David Bowie and Bob Dylan are the Titians in the music industry; Alex Haley’s “ Roots” was a tour de force and the commencement of the television mini series. “Jaws” the movie box office bonanza. Born in 1975 are Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie and Kate Winslet.
Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning are rough, raw and ravishing as Joan Jett and Cherie Currie; they portray the two talented and disenfranchised teenagers with remarkable guts and courage; they sizzle and shock and plummet the audience with their audaciousness and iconoclastic behavior. Thirty five years ago they were pivotal in destroying barriers between male and female bands, “women don’t play electric guitars”! Their revolution, their experimental sexuality, drug use, and riveting performances did destroy the band and almost themselves; they rebel against the world and eventually each other. Currie does annihilate her body and soul. Jett’s metal is stronger and prevails.
The movie is based on the autobiography of Cherie Curie, Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway; whose drug and alcohol addiction almost kills her. Joan Jett is one of the executive producers. This is the product of two reflected and desperately led lives; it is also a love story and a perfect rendition of the middle 70’s: a time of mourning, the Vietnam War killed our idealism and chauvinism; no longer the age of Aquarius but the dawning of postmodernism: art can no longer be our salvation just our soulful revelation.
Michael Shannon (Academy Award nominee, Revolutionary Road) with powerful alacrity depicts the audacious, foul mouthed Kim Fowley, the manager who with meteoric speed and abusive dedication has The Runaways on the stage and recording studio; their flame, like a supernova, destined for extinction.
You do not have to like this movie, but appreciate it you must!
THREE STARS!
For Now………Peneflix
