Do not “run away” from Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning’s new music biopic.
Does the name Joan Jett sound familiar? How about Cherie Curie or The Runaways? Still have no clue of whom I am talking about? Well, by seeing the new film, The Runaways, one will learn a little music history on a briefly famous rock band that only stayed together for a short period of four years.
Taking place in 1975 when “Rock was a man’s world,” The Runaways is a music biopic (a feature film about a famous person) about an all-female rock band, The Runaways. The young and talented actresses, Kristen Stewart (the Twilight series), and Dakota Fanning (Push), portray Joan Jett and Cherie Curie who are not only the main focus of the band, but the film as well. Joan Jett (Stewart) is a punk rocker: dressed in leather, jet black hair, and electric guitar in hand. While attending a concert at a bar, Jett notices famous record producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road) standing outside. Excited to meet one of her idols, Jett acquaints herself to Fowley, telling him how she has an ambition to play in a rock band. Fowley sees potential in Jett and introduces her to an up-and-coming drummer, Sandy West (Stella Maeve, Brooklyn’s Finest), telling them to give him a call when they have a few songs ready. Once I saw Kristen Stewart appear on screen as Joan Jett, I immediately knew she had the look down, as no other young actress could portray Jett the way Stewart did. In a scene towards the opening, Jett is being taught how to play guitar. However, Jett is learning how to play mellow beginner tunes, not the heavy and loud punk rock she wants to learn. Rebellious, Jett plugs in her electric guitar and turns the amps up all the way, playing the music for which she becomes known.
Once Jett and West have done some rehearsals together, they give Fowley a call. Gaining two more members: Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton, Rob Zombie’s Halloween re-makes) the band’s lead guitarist, and Robin (Alia Shawkat, Whip It) a fictional bassist who represents Jackie Fox (she refused to give the rights for her to be portrayed), Fowley sees this band as being almost complete; they just need one more member: someone young and beautiful, willing to be the seductive girl. While searching at a bar, Fowley and the girls are introduced to 15-year-old Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning), the perfect fourth girl for the band. Like Stewart, Fanning too was the perfect choice for this famous icon. With makeup, both Stewart and Fanning were able to look older and almost identical to the actual musicians. In Fanning’s first major scene, it was a bit comical, as she was performing at her school’s talent show, lip-synching to David Bowie’s Rebel Rebel, complete with a costume.
The Runaways’ first rehearsals take place in Fowley’s trailer. Once I saw where The Runaways’ rehearsal “studio” was, I wondered why a supposedly famous record producer would choose his trailer? Was this record producer not famous at all, an impostor, perhaps? I guess Fowley wanted to keep it secret that he was working with an all-girl rock band. Wanting the ambiance to feel authentic, Fowley finds three neighborhood boys to throw outside trash at the band while they perform. It is during these rehearsal scenes that I find out Fowley’s personality is harsh and often vulgar. Although he claims the girls will become the next Beatles, Fowley treats them like trash, cursing and spewing vulgarities at them and, in a way, exploiting them as more than just a rock band. However, as nasty as his personality may have seemed, Fowley may have been just showing the girls what it would be like when they actually got a gig somewhere, as back in these times, some did not want females playing rock music. If they did, the audience would be chaotic at first.
The first major song performed by The Runaways was my favorite. Trying to brainstorm something original, Fowley comes up with a phrase that relates to Cherie: “Cherry Bomb.” When The Runaways first rehearsed, the Cherry Bomb song was nothing special, as the early rehearsals are nothing compared to the final result. Soon, though, the audience did get a version that was a major highlight of the movie alone, as it sounded phenomenal – almost as great as the actual song.
While a lot of The Runaways is about the band’s short history, it does focus on the life of Cherie Curry as well. Her actress mother leaves Cherie and her calm, quiet twin sister, Marie (newcomer Riley Keough) to venture off with a new husband, and Cherie’s father, it seems, is an alcoholic. It was great to have a background story on Cherie, but I wish director Florida Sigismondi (music video director) had included Joan Jett’s story as well, as the film was only an hour and 45 minutes long.
While The Runaways may have a lot of clichés that one would find in any rock biopic (the most obvious one is Cherie’s drug addiction), it is a film that should not be missed, especially if one likes films “based on a true story.” Both Stewart and Fanning give Oscar-worthy performances that consist of not only acting, but singing as well.
Seeing Kristen Stewart as Bella in the Twilight series does not really show her talent, as it is just a film made to entertain. However, Stewart was the perfect choice for Joan Jett, and Dakota Fanning, who has been acting since she was a little girl (War of the Worlds, Charlotte’s Web, etc.), was the best choice for Cherie Currie as well. While The Runaways does contain a lot of the elements that gave it its “R” rating, it is a biopic that informed many about a famous all-girl punk rock band. It may have a short running time when compared to other similar biopics (the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line, was a little over two hours long), but in reality, The Runaways were only together for a short period of time, four years to be exact. Regardless, I highly recommend running – not walking, to The Runaways.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
