Paul Rachman:
American Hardcore (USA, 2006)
Production: AHC Productions LLC, Envision Films
100 min, English. No Finnish subtitles.
What does hardcore mean? It means making no compromises, it means independent thinking, do-it-yourself attitude, devotion to a lifestyle. Besides all this it also means, of course, the most extreme, most intensive, angriest music ever made. That's what hardcore means.
Paul Rachman, a director of a number of punk rock videos, and Steven Blush, a scriptwriter who used to be a gig organiser, decided to embrace the passion of their youth once again and to make a documentary film on the wildest music genre on the continent on America. In spite of getting a cold shoulder from the sponsors, the two men did not give up. With the help of some coffee barrels and freehand camera, they showed genuine DIY attitude in making American Hardcore. The hilarious film was also a surprise winner on a number of film festivals in 2006.
American Hardcore is must-see film for everyone. It is a testament to the bravado and dedication of youth, but also an archaeological excavation to the period between 1980 and 1986, when punk rock kids got tired of the hypocrisy and empty promises of Reagan's ultraconservative administration. The explosive frustration of suburbs was vented in music. Punk rock, angry at best of times, became faster, uglier and even more aggressive. Bands like Black Flag, Agnostic Front, Bad Brains and Gang Green combined their uncompromising music with political lyrics and gave birth to a subculture that in the form of self-published records and home video tapes quickly spread all over the globe.
Rachman and Blush's frill-free documentary is an account of not just the music, but of the way of life. The film has been constructed of more than one hundred interviews and an endless number of videotapes that the men collected from the fans, the publishers of the records and the makers of the music. The result is a sweaty and genuine documentary that manages in its harshness to catch the real aesthetics of punk.
Paul Rachman, the director of the film, and Steven Blush, the scriptwriter and author of the book American Hardcore, will be present in the showings.
www.sonyclassics.com/americanhardcore
Paul Rachman was still at college when he started his career making underground hardcore punk films and music videos to such bands as Bad Brains, Gang Green and Mission of Burma. Quickly, he became the hottest name on the scene and has, since then, directed videos for Alice in Chains, Sepultura, Pantera and Kiss. Rachman is also the director for a number of award-winning films and one of the founders of Slamdance Film Festival.
American Hardcore (2006)
Zoe XO (2004)
Home (2002)
Four Dogs Playing Poker (2000)
Drive Baby Drive (1995)
Memories by Joe Frank (1993)
The author Steven Blush started his career at college in the 1980s by promoting hard core punk gigs and tours and playing DJ gigs. He also worked as a radio DJ and had his own record company. He has worked for such magazines as Spin and Village Voice and written several books on the history of music. His most famous works include American Hair Metal and American Hardcore – A Tribal History.
