The Runaways
Director: Floria Sigismondi
Stars: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning
Classification: STC
Rating: ***
There’s no denying that The Runaways broke open the doors for many-a-female rocker to walk through. In fact, it seems shocking that until 1975 there hadn’t even been an all-girl rock act on the scene.
However, outside of that eyebrow-raising factoid, The Runaways’ history is highlighted by little outside the conventional rock n’ roll rags-to-riches-to-rags story. That’s perhaps the biggest hurdle for the band’s cinematic namesake.
Directed by Canadian-bred music video wunderkind Floria Sigismondi, The Runaways stares down the brief band life of future I Love Rock ‘N Roll hitmaker Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and 15-year old singer Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning).
Surging with teenage sexuality and angst, each are misfits until they meet up through the music. But as their band swiftly reaches stardom (they were actually huge in Japan), drugs, booze and exploitation take its toll on young egos and identities.
Loosely adapting Currie’s 1989 autobiography, Sigismondi has insisted she aimed to reveal an important coming-of-age story.
But that only causes one to question why she then excised a sexual abuse experience that was pivotal to Currie’s motivations. Or, for that matter, why she focused instead on making The Runaways one giant music video.
To that end, The Runaways is a marvel. Stylish, slick and at a snappy pace, Sigismondi keeps the music raging and the nostalgia flowing.
The film will gather fans of a generation of moviegoers who’ve grown-up distanced from the 70’s but in the end, The Runaways celebrates the girls’ music more than anything.
The central problem there is, how many songs of theirs can you name?
