July 4th , 2010

Last month saw the release of a documentary called "Bananas!" that was notable because it was produced by a former Victoria native, Bart Simpson, who also did "The Corporation" in 2002.
This month we get a doc about the seminal Canadian rock band Rush called, "Beyond The Lighted Stage" which was shot by another local boy named Sam Dunn.
Sam's reputation as a world-class documentary filmmaker is constantly growing as he continues to release movies dedicated to his passion for Heavy Metal music. His first film, "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey", a comprehensive look at the the history of the Heavy Metal movement, met wide acclaim and had an impressively broad appeal given it's subject matter.
His second, "Global Metal", was about the cultural impact of this much maligned musical genre as fans from places as disparate as Norway, Japan, Iraq (when playing metal is a prisonable offense) and Thailand strive to make music that is bigger than the oppressions they feel in everyday life. It's a brilliant piece of anthropological study.

The Rush documentary is supposed to be more of the same--putting a friendly, approachable face on something many of you have probably never considered checking out before.

To continue the musical theme I must recommend the biographical/drama film, "The Runaways".
It tells the story of a real band--a group of teenage girls--who were thrown together in the mid 70s to try and exploit the interest in glam rock and ended up basically being proto-punk rockers.
The film's story is one we've heard a million times but the performances by Dakota Fanning and, in particular, Kirsten Stewart who does an incredible job of singing and capturing the essence of Joan Jett, are top notch.
I knew a fair amount about the band before the movie and still learned something about their insane yet brilliant (and brilliantly filthy) manager/guru Kim Fowley (Portrayed brilliantly by Michael Shannon).

I kept thinking about the movie for days afterward and that is about as high a compliment I can pay a film since most go in one eye and out the other.

Thanks for reading,
Rob