Movie Breakdown: The Punk Singer

People are doing traditional-style reviews all over the web, so we decided to try something different.  In each “breakdown” we’ll take a look at what a film’s marketing lead us to believe, how the movie actually played, and then what we learned from it all.  Read on!

The Impression:

Riot Grrrl pioneer Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, The Julie Ruin) gets a documentary.

The Reality:

The Punk Singer is essentially a linear, big screen version of Kathleen Hanna’s Wikipedia page.  If you’re a big fan of Hanna, then you won’t mind this, as the documentary is loaded with nothing but praise and admiration for her, her music, and the feminist work she has done.  Personally, I would have like to have seen a few well spoken detractors just to keep things interesting, but I admittedly did enjoy the 80 minute celebration of the Riot Grrrl.

The Lesson:

Kathleen Hanna is cool.