Girls Rock!
Directed by Shane King & Arne Johnson
at Angelika Film Center
This is the age of the children’s documentary: Spellbound and Mad Hot Ballroom proved that the vulnerability and enthusiasm of kids working toward a goal is a formula for riveting, often heartbreaking stories. Girls Rock!, a delightful addition to the genre, focuses on the Portland-based Rock’n’Roll Camp for Girls, where eight- to 18-year-olds spend a week forming bands, learning instruments, writing their own songs and performing before an audience of 700.
The directors, Shane King and Arne Johnson, wisely choose two seven-year-olds and two teenagers as their subjects to illustrate how Rock Camp affects girls at different points in their lives. The little ones, Amelia and Palace, are both eager to demonstrate their love of screaming, snarling and general rocking out. They provide cute sound bites, a hallmark of the kiddie-doc genre, but they also speak seriously about the difficulties of not belonging. Misty, a teenager from a group home, speaks matter-of-factly about her troubled past and has an adult-like awareness of the positive effects a place like Rock Camp can have for someone like her. She speaks of her positive experience calmly, like she’s breathing a sigh of relief; while Laura, a bubbly and well-spoken teen with abysmally low self-esteem, goes through a transformation that jumps out at us like the moral of the story. Were this not a documentary, hearing a teenage girl mention how amazing she is and that she deserves to love herself would be corny, to put it mildly. But actually witnessing someone going through the experience is seriously affecting.
The pacing and tone of Girls Rock! match its subject perfectly; but sometimes, like kids with an electric guitar, King and Johnson forget to turn the volume down. The film is punctuated with exuberant animated segments with statistics about the societal pressures girls face. The statistics are relevant and often shocking, but they pull us away from the girls themselves, who would probably do a better job of expressing the same ideas. It’s easy to forgive these occasional lapses in restraint because we’re swept up in the Rock Camp spirit. On the night of the big concert, we’re rooting not only for the girls onstage but also for all the little girls who didn’t make it to Rock Camp this year—but will someday.
Directed by Shane King & Arne Johnson
at Angelika Film Center
This is the age of the children’s documentary: Spellbound and Mad Hot Ballroom proved that the vulnerability and enthusiasm of kids working toward a goal is a formula for riveting, often heartbreaking stories. Girls Rock!, a delightful addition to the genre, focuses on the Portland-based Rock’n’Roll Camp for Girls, where eight- to 18-year-olds spend a week forming bands, learning instruments, writing their own songs and performing before an audience of 700.
The directors, Shane King and Arne Johnson, wisely choose two seven-year-olds and two teenagers as their subjects to illustrate how Rock Camp affects girls at different points in their lives. The little ones, Amelia and Palace, are both eager to demonstrate their love of screaming, snarling and general rocking out. They provide cute sound bites, a hallmark of the kiddie-doc genre, but they also speak seriously about the difficulties of not belonging. Misty, a teenager from a group home, speaks matter-of-factly about her troubled past and has an adult-like awareness of the positive effects a place like Rock Camp can have for someone like her. She speaks of her positive experience calmly, like she’s breathing a sigh of relief; while Laura, a bubbly and well-spoken teen with abysmally low self-esteem, goes through a transformation that jumps out at us like the moral of the story. Were this not a documentary, hearing a teenage girl mention how amazing she is and that she deserves to love herself would be corny, to put it mildly. But actually witnessing someone going through the experience is seriously affecting.
The pacing and tone of Girls Rock! match its subject perfectly; but sometimes, like kids with an electric guitar, King and Johnson forget to turn the volume down. The film is punctuated with exuberant animated segments with statistics about the societal pressures girls face. The statistics are relevant and often shocking, but they pull us away from the girls themselves, who would probably do a better job of expressing the same ideas. It’s easy to forgive these occasional lapses in restraint because we’re swept up in the Rock Camp spirit. On the night of the big concert, we’re rooting not only for the girls onstage but also for all the little girls who didn’t make it to Rock Camp this year—but will someday.
