Girls Rock! The Movie
Indie film review by Magda Knight
Girls Rock! The Movie is a music documentary follows the journey of four 8-18-year-olds as they are transformed by the liberating powers of music at the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls. Given the opportunity to bash the drums, wail like a banshee and take up space, the girls jettison gender stereotypes like old hats on their way to a joyous final concert that will change their lives forever.
Girls Rock Camp in Oregon is a place where 8-18 year old girls go to rock out. In one week they have to form a band, name their band, learn how to play guitar, keyboard or drums, write song lyrics, and perform a song in from of a friendly crowd of 300. Some of these girls have no friends. Some of them are precocious as hell. Some of them have never played a guitar before. But in one short week they're going to learn self-respect, how to get on with other girls and how thrash out music and vocals as loud as you can get.
"Revolutionary, heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny." - Seattle Magazine
As one bouncy Korean death metaller at Girls Rock Camp points out, "I see all these girls who are so proud cuz they know so many guys in so many bands - and I wanna tear my hair out. I'm, like, seriously, why don't you just wake up and be in a band yourself? I mean - don't you think that would be cooler?
With tutors able to deal with anything from homesick girls to catfights during soundcheck, with vocal coach Beth Ditto (The Gossip) and a frankly terrifying performance from awe-inspiring rock genius Kathleen Hanna (Le Tigre, Bikini Kill), Girls Rock Camp is crazy, warm-hearted, life-affirming and has its finger on the pulse.
In the opening scene we have all the girls in one room, wandering around, trying to randomly form bands with each other. It's moving indeed, bringing back forgotten but horrible memories of playground politics. And then the bands have to choose their name. "Do you like PLAID?" screams one girl. What's that? "PEOPLE LYING AROUND IN DIRT". Pardon me for swearing, but shit yeah! I want to be in a band called PLAID!
You'll meet the Korean death-metaller. She hates herself, but the truth is you couldn't meet a more joyful, warm, charismatic, nuzzly, honest and puppy-grr-bouncy a self-hater anywhere. Now, if only the other girls at Girls Rock Camp were interested in forming a death metal band...
You'll meet the sexy 18 year old who's been passed from children's home to children's home, and has survived by learning to be a bully, but is looking to change. Her week at Girls Rock Camp will be the first time she ever picks up a bass guitar. Can she keep her cool in a band where all the girls are considerably younger than herself?
You'll meet the 8 year old with glasses, wild teeth and full-on punk pioneer spirit, looking to Hendrix-lick her guitar (bigger than she is) and play it behind her head at any, and we mean ANY opportunity. She won't be constrained by rhythm or melody, and she only writes songs about her dog Pippi. She says she'll stop when she's written 14 of them. Will she be able to work in a group who doesn't care who Pippi is?
Lastly, you'll meet Palace. Palace is Thumbelina - a beautiful, composed princess, so tiny you could fit her in a nutshell. Stern and unforgiving at all times, she's the very model of ladylike composure, until she howls into the microphone like a deranged cat. And throws singer hissy-fits. And punches the keyboardist in the face.
Lastly, and deserving a mention, is the drummer in Palace's band - a feral, quiet little thing who loses herself in the music so much that she climbs on the drums then crawls underneath them and plays them with just her little head poking out of the top, watching you with narrowed eyes, looking for all the world like a miniature Frank Zappa.
Girls Rock - which finishes with a fantastic Showcase Finale - is a feminist's dream, and everything a good music documentary should be. You'll have thoughtfulness, hysterical moments, candid behaviour at all times, and what really shines through is a riotous love for music and its power to change people's lives.
Yes, but is it feminist?
Yeah, it is. Girls Rock Camp is so way feminist. This is good clean feminism at its best. You've got girls who don't like girls very much suddenly realising that girls don't suck, purely through the power of unleashing creativity. You've got camp tutors who admit the camp is as much for their joy as for the inspiration of those attending.
The documentary is also spattered with great 'Sex Pistols shake hands with Monty Python' visuals that flash up feminist facts (researched and referenced at the end) that will make any Western girl who think she's got it okay gasp as the scales fall from her eyes.
Yes, but is it anti-boy?
Hell no. Boys will LOVE Girls Rock Camp. Why? Well, partly because boys don't actually have contempt for boring feminism, they just sometimes think they do.
Mostly, they'll love it because it's a classic music documentary.
I watched Girls Rock Camp with a boy. He's a big burly Londoner who watched it because he loves music and music-related films in all forms. He got big belly-laughs from 8 year old kids rocking out and being out of control, and found the statistics about girls achieving/not achieving absolutely fascinating and worth talking about from a male perspective.
Plus he'd be quite happy to bone Girls Rock Vocals tutor Beth Ditto.
Girls Rock is definitely one for the boys, as well as the girls.
Almost every music documentary is classic. Anvil (newly-released), Metal (norwegian black metal), even Slade in Flames. Music documentaries are simply fantastic. You get to see real, people being candid about their hopes, dreams and failures. You get to see egos clashing, lessons being learned, heartbreak and salvation - all washed down with passionate music (and, if the band is famous enough, crazy fans). Even fake music mockumentaries (Spinal Tap, Strange Fruit) shine, because they know how to poke fun and love something at the same time.
Girls Rock is a classic. Girls Rock = everything you could want in a music documentary. Clash of the egos? Check. Girl on girl action, including catfights? Check. Glorious/terrible music? Double-check. A moving and also hilarious experience journey of hopes and dreams? Girls Rock has it ALL.
Girls Rock sits up there as one of the best fun ways to spend a couple of hours laughing at crazy little 8 year olds being genuinely, movingly inspired by the chance to make very loud music.
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Metaller Laura is a fan of death metal and bunny rabbits
Palace (who we really do love) bites a bandmate and punches another in the face. "She thinks a lot about being marketable," says her mum.
Magda Knight is the Founder and Editor of Mookychick. She's been known to write; her works have been published in anthologies and in 2000AD. If you want to feature or interview Mookychick, Magda is happy to answer any questions - just email editor@mookychick.co.uk
