AMERICAN HARDCORE (2006)
A documentary film covering the years 1980-1986 of the American punk music scene. To be more specific, it covers only the hardcore scene, a sub-set of a sub-set. So, one immediate job of criticism—dividing the audience into those who will and those who won’t want to see a particular film—is pretty well taken care of by the fine point of its subject matter.
Furthermore, little effort is made to extend out from this any social observations about the country at large, and how hardcore can (or cannot) fit in with that. Sure, a lot is said about Reagan and 1980s American mainstream (suburban, anyway) life, but little in that to make any larger points about hardcore’s role in that society and music in general.
There isn’t any effort either to extend the reach musically beyond this point; the filmmakers assume that we know where this music came from (one talking head: “to us punk rock was Sid Vicious”), or where it went (another talking head: “This music was hugely influential.”). On the one hand, this economy of purpose is refreshing; most people seeing this don’t need to be told again what punk music of the 70s was like, nor what was to come in the 90s. (Where I saw the film, when electronic musician Moby came on the screen, people in the theater booed and heckled him—so for many this isn’t ancient history, they’re still in reaction against the mainstream.)
But the pervading effect of this fine point specificity is a sense of claustrophobia. The film is dense with talking heads interviews, so many in fact that it is hard by the mid-point to keep them all straight or even care. Quite a lot of them have quite a lot to say, but far too many are there out of deference to their legend and not out of need to present their views. It is nice to see some of them, still defiant even into middle age, but the strong points, the interesting points get lost in the shuffle. The music also–and this is much more damning–gets lost in the mix, which is unfortunate, since the archival footage of the performances often looks rare and feels vibrant, and in a music scene which prided itself on the minute-and-a-half song, there doesn’t seem to be much reason for cutting away before the song is finished.
On several occasions people are actually discussing particular (1 ½ minute) songs, and then we’re allowed to see part of it performed.
Maybe this is also for the audience’s benefit. There are too many bootleg concert videos in the record shops or online for the audience to need to see these performances here. And with an audience this notoriously fickle and demanding it is quite a burden to come up with something they haven’t seen (or probably own at home), but for new interviews with the key players themselves.
This is where a more inventive doc might have made good use of other archival footage. American Hardcore, the film and the scene itself is very conscious of geography. While the overall picture was of an “American” scene, the reality (as presented here) was often one of many regional scenes. Maybe we could have seen a lot more footage of, say, Huntington Beach in the 80s, while we hear one of these songs in its entirety.
In the end, American Hardcore will probably have a place on the DVD shelf with Black Flag and Minor Threat bootlegs, but what could have been the definitive doc on this music lacks the energy and originality which made its subject so interesting in the first place.
HDFEST RATING:
Overall: B-
Originality: C
Enjoyability: A-
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