Sadly, before we even get to any other merits Floria Sigismondi's unorthodox coming-of-age drama may or may not have, there is one issue we simply must address right off the bat. The sound mixing on this Blu-ray edition of The Runaways is appalling. Simply shocking, which for a music industry biopic is really unforgivable. Even with a moderately priced receiver system and speakers you will spend more time adjusting your audio set-up, as the mix careers back-and-forth between the husky whisper of barely audible dialogue and the ear-splitting crunch of punk-rock guitar, than you will enjoying the movie.
It's a crying shame because that infuriating aspect aside there is much to admire about the photographer and longtime music video helmer' feature debut. Charting the meteoric rise to prominence of the pioneering all-girl teenage rock band, this harrowing portrait of impressionable, abused youth sees these tender young things crash headfirst into every rock 'n' roll cliché imaginable - drugs, sex, booze, egomania - before such things really existed, and all while barely even old enough to drive.
Showcasing the kind of range that the Twilight Saga simply doesn't permit, Kristen Stewart, exuding an effective mélange of feisty insecurity, takes on the role of Joan Jett, the street tough, trailer trash, valley girl irked by the constant establishment mantra that: "girls don't play electric guitar." Opposite her is Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie, the damaged dreamer that's "a little Bowie, a little Bardot, and with a look on her face that says: 'I could kick the shit out of a truck driver.'" The forgotten children of want-away moms and deadbeat, drunken dads, the oddly matched pair become kindred spirits; bruised, adolescent outcasts searching for that all important missing ingredient - love.
Dispatched to Asia and beyond, almost completely unsupervised, on a whim and a hunch by legendary music mogul Kim Fowley - ironically the closest thing these girls had to a father - they quickly find themselves embroiled around a swirling maelstrom of easy drugs in piss-soaked bathrooms, casual sex in musty motel rooms, and constant pressure to push the envelope with their sex kitten image.
Despite being employed as almost the comic relief by Sigismondi, and imbued with real magnetism and charisma by Michael Shannon, Fowley is clearly the bad guy in all this. A man only concerned with success, acutely aware that the cynical addition of some trashy lingerie and a little dry-humping of the mic stand will expand their audience from the 'girl power' crowd to legions of thirty-something blokes who really should know better.
It's not quite the warts-and-all portrait of Currie's book Neon Angel: Confessions of a Runaway, on which the picture is loosely based. For one thing, both the sexual assault she suffered in her early teens, and the many sexual encounters out on tour are kept almost entirely off-screen, perhaps as a matter of pure practical necessity considering that Dakota Fanning is, herself, still in fact jailbait. Still, The Runaways remains an affectionate and affecting look at a gaggle of kids with big dreams and bruised hearts, somewhat cynically exploited, devoured, chewed up and spat out by an unforgiving industry before they really even knew anything about it.
Blu-ray special Features:
Special features include a chatty, energetic commentary track with Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, and Joan Jett herself. Also included is a brief TV spot cut together from promo interviews, and a brief behind-the scenes featurette with interviews from the cast, producers, and real life Runaways.
"The Runaways" is on sale July 20, 2010 and is rated R. Biopic. Directed by Floria Sigismondi. Written by Floria Sigismondi (Screenplay), Cherie Currie (Book). Starring Alia Shawkat, Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, Michael Shannon, Riley Keough, Scout Taylor Compton, Stella Maeve.
