Review: The Runaways (2010)
March 28th 2010 00:26
Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart
The Runaways (2010, Sigismondi)
Written March 27, 2010
The Runaways tells the story of the birth of the first all-girl rock group. The film centers on the relationship between founding member, guitarist and backing vocalist Joan Jett (Kristin Stewart) and lead singer Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning). The Runaways follows the normal path of trajectory for a musical biopic: the forming of a band, the rise to stardom, the eventual fallout. However, although based on a true story, The Runaways is structured less around detailed character development and more around the aspect of being a girl rock band in the mid-70s. It resembles the fictionalized Velvet Goldmine (which is based loosely on the personas of Iggy Pop and David Bowie) as opposed to plot heavy and drama-laden biopics such as Walk the Line and Ray.
Rather than delving into the tragic events of Cherie Currie’s life (the script is based upon Currie’s book Neon Angel), we merely skim the surface of any sort of character development. For example, there is a scene in which the older boyfriend of Cherie’s sister makes a sexual comment and overture to Cherie. It’s fleeting and we never see the boyfriend in the film again. In real life this man raped Currie, taking her virginity when she was barely 15. Currie stated in an interview this is why she cut her hair and painted her face to look like Bowie. The next scene we see in the film is Currie’s makeover, but the audience has to infer as to why this change occurs.
This lack of depth isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s rather refreshing for the biopic genre (yet at the same time we do long for at least a few scenes with extended scenes with dialogue). The best part of The Runaways is the magnetism of Joan Jett and the relationship between Jett and Currie (ironically, this is also the most dramatized).
From the first frame we are drawn to Jett – she walks into a clothing store, dumps out her change on the counter and says she wants what the guy next to them is wearing. She knows who she is and never once compromises herself. In an early scene, Jett’s friend tells her she heard boys don’t like girls who are tough. They want them soft and sweet. Jett doesn’t care about this; her friend proceeds to kiss her. When Jett goes to a club, she sees Currie from a distance and can’t take her eyes off her. The sexual tension between Jett and Currie is heady and again, conjures up comparisons to Brian and Curt in Velvet Goldmine. Eventually, they kiss and sleep together. We never see a discussion of it like one might expect considering the stereotype surrounding girls and sex. Currie sleeps with a roadie and delves deeper into drugs. She uses her sex appeal as a selling point for the music and it infuriates Jett. When the fallout occurs, it isn’t a loud explosion but a mere whimper.
Curie and Jett have admitted in real life their problems stemmed from lack of communication. Until recently, they both didn’t even realize why things ended how they did and wished they had spoken up more about how they were feeling. In this way, the film is very accurate. In terms of their sexual relationship, Jett has always been private about her personal life and sexual orientation in general; Currie has stated that it happened but it was never really love – more the age of bisexual experimentation.
Joan Jett and Cherie Currie
Interestingly enough, Stewart stated in an interview that the portrayal of Jett and Currie’s relationship in the film is not a romance – it’s something that happens and they don’t really talk about it. I must disagree. My favorite things about the film are Joan and her feelings for Cherie. When Cherie is in a hospital bed, Joan curls up behind her; when Cherie is attacked verbally by a band member, Joan sticks up for her. Toward the end of the film, as Cherie listens to Crimson and Clover, she smiles softly during the lyric “I don’t hardly know her/but I think I can love her”. There is no doubt in my mind that the fictionalized versions of Joan Jett and Cherie Currie loved one another. And therein lies the difference of reading this film as queer or reading it as hetero-normative. Most likely many will do the latter. The real Cherie admits they were not in love in real life and maybe that’s true, but Stewart’s interpretation of the script is harder to swallow, especially when we observe how she plays Jett.
From Joan’s kissing at least three girls in the film, to drummer Sandy West masturbating for the first time in the shower to thoughts of Farrah Fawcett (after pictures of guys did nothing for her) to Joan’s palpable desire and genuine feelings for Cherie; The Runaways, like Velvet Goldmine, is, in my opinion, gay themed from start to finish. It’s a film that is being marketed for wide release due to its stars but do not be fooled that this is a mainstream Hollywood project. In actuality, it is a biopic that takes risks but sadly, those risks are being glossed over by all involved.
Again, it’s ironic that my favorite parts of the film are the ones that are being negated. However, I wouldn’t want to see the film any other way – to be honest if I did, I wouldn’t like it as much. When watching The Runaways, you’re never actively invested in the ongoing events but you’re never once bored. The music is great, the feel of the film is accurate for the time period, and the performances are solid. Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) plays the group’s obnoxious and eccentric manager and cranks it up to twelve. Shannon is great but after a while the performance, due to the writing, does verge on overkill (honestly, how many times does he say some variation of “dogsh*t or dog-f**k? Has to be at least a dozen). Jett herself admitted liberties were taken with the character.
Fanning is good, but Stewart is the standout; her real life celebrity is lost amongst her performance as Jett. Never once does the audience think ‘this is that girl from those Twilight movies’. From her look, to her magnetic stare, Stewart gives a performance that I’m slightly obsessed with. As for the rest of the film, it’s not without flaws. Some of the directing choices are questionable and gimmicky, and the segment with in which newspaper clippings pan out along the scene with selected headlines enlarged in big, bright fonts bordered on corny. As a whole, though, The Runaways is able to bring something different and entertaining to the rote biopic formula. The Runaways paved the way for female rockers; their story was worth telling as well as watching.
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Comment by Catherine Stebbins
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
I definitely see the similarities between this and Velvet Goldmine but the purpose of the latter is to explore a ton of broad ideas with Haynes using the inspiration of Bowie and Iggy to allow him to serve the broader themes as opposed to this which is trying to be a biopic and nothing much more which is why I think it ultimately fails and cannot justify its own lack of depth. I just didn't feel like it was refreshing as a biopic since while it was less with the heavy drama it maintained every bit of convention that the other films have.
I agree about Michael Shannon. He was great but the character enters on 12 and exits on 12 with no variation and it got uninteresting a lot sooner than it should have.
Yet for whatever reason I still enjoyed this! In the very beginning I wa a bit bored though and by the end I was ready for it to be over. : (
Certain scenes elevated this so much for me though!
Comment by Cinema is truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth