SXSW Review: The Runaways

How perfect is it that a headliner film at SXSW would be a biopic of a groundbreaking all-girl rock band that jump started the careers of rock-and-roll legends? Maybe not perfect, but certainly entertaining.

Floria Sigismondi, a veteran of music videos, penned and directed the biopic of The Runaways, a 1970s band that included Joan Jett and Lita Ford. Jett (Kristen Stewart) is the focus along with lead singer Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), and the movie follows them in the classic rise and fall expected in most rock-and-roll tales. 

One would think that a film that starts off with a graphic punctuation of coming of age would be more risky. After so many rock films, especially Sid and Nancy, it's hard to be shocked anymore. The closest thing to shock value is the raw sexuality of Jett and Currie, singularly and together.  Joan Jett apparently hasn't publically declared her sexuality (although she's been seen with "Dykes Rule" slogans), and Sigismondi's script doesn't try to categorize it while playing up the attraction between Jett and Currie. The disturbing part of the film is the sexualization of Currie, who at 15 becomes a sex symbol onstage and off despite being underage, and neither Fanning nor Sigismondi back away from any line. Fanning is disturbingly sexual, emphasizing the underage aspect to the sexuality and the exploitation of a girl in the name of success.

Both Fanning and Stewart own their roles. Sigismondi's script gives Stewart a chance to smoulder as a rebel who knows her cause (rock-and-roll), and how desperate she is to make rock her salvation.  Stewart proves she's far more than the emo-femme Bella of the Twilight saga, and practically sizzles with pent-up energy. Scout Taylor-Compton is underused as Lita Ford, but given the limits of a feature film, it's an understandable sacrifice. The real standout in the cast is Michael Shannon as producer Kim Fowley.

Shannon usually owns his roles as an off-balance character and that's clearly the case in The Runaways, but he takes it further. Accuracy aside, Fowler is portrayed as equally exploitive and supportive while embracing the sexual ambiguity popular in the era of Velvet Goldmine. Shannon chews the scenery as he chews out the girls, whether trying to get Cherie Currie to "sing with her gonads" or putting the girls through a heckler's drill. For all Fowler took advantage of their inexperience, he also seemed to genuinely want them to succeed on their own merits, although within the molds he placed them. The script seems to gloss over just how much Fowler may have taken advantage of the girls -- but again, it's not his story, it's about the girls, at least as represented by Jett and Currie.

Being a music biopic, the soundtrack is overflowing with music from 1975, including original songs by The Runaways, including a live version of "I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are" and "Hollywood" as well as songs Jett later covered.  Other artists represented in the music-heavy soundtrack include Suzi Quatro, The Sex Pistols, The Stooges, Gary Glitter and of course Joan Jett. 

When all is said and done and the fates of the players summed up before the closing credits, The Runaways doesn't break any new ground.  But at least one person left that screening searching her MP3 player for Joan Jett's cover of "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)."