Play this movie loud. Really loud.
Punk's Not Dead (2007)
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Synopsis: On the edge of the 30th anniversary of punk rock, Punk's Not Dead takes you into the sweaty underground clubs, backyard parties, recording studios, and yes, shopping malls and stadium shows where punk rock music and culture continue to thrive. Thirty years after bands like the Ramones... On the edge of the 30th anniversary of punk rock, Punk's Not Dead takes you into the sweaty underground clubs, backyard parties, recording studios, and yes, shopping malls and stadium shows where punk rock music and culture continue to thrive. Thirty years after bands like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols infamously shocked the system with their hard, fast, status-quo-killing rock, the longest-running punk band in history is drawing bigger crowds than ever, "pop-punk" bands have found success on MTV, and kids too young to drive are forming bands that carry the torch for punk's raw, immediate sound. Meanwhile, "punk" has become a marketing concept to sell everything from cars to vodka, and dyed hair and piercings mark a rite of passage for thousands of kids. Can the true, nonconformist punk spirit still exist in today's corporatized culture? Featuring interviews, performances, and behind-the-scenes journeys with the bands, labels, fans, and press who keep punk alive, Punk's Not Dead dares to juxtapose pop-punk's music and lifestyle against the roots in the 70s and 80s, resulting in unexpected revelations. A DIY search for the soul of a subculture and a celebration of all things loud, fast, and spiked, Punk's Not Dead shows punk is stronger and more relevant today than it's ever been. --© Official Site [More]
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Reviews
Even the title sounds like a hardheaded comeback to a proclamation nobody made.
Dynner delights in presenting a wealth of contrasting testimonies, and has no intention of delivering a judgment on any of it.
It could've used a little more clarity and context, but, then, that's not very punk, is it?
Susan Dynner's documentary about the past 30 years of punk music doesn't exactly break any new ground. But it does offer an entertaining overview that is leavened with humorous philosophical digressions.
It's a hell of an accomplishment to make a kinetic, hard-driving and visually arresting talking-heads documentary.
Poor punk. Such a bundle of complexes, most of them encapsulated in the needlessly defensive title of Susan Dynner's documentary Punk's Not Dead.
The movie covers a lot of time and territory, and some of its questions are great ones. (The biggest, for true punks: Is getting a big record deal a sign of ultimate success, or final defeat?)
About as in-your-face and raggedy as its subject, Dynner's film is really less of a history than a psychological profile, rooting around for the meat of what makes punk so resilient, cross-generational and communal.
[It's] a documentary that's more about the enduring lifestyle of basement shows, crust-punk houses, and aging rebels than the music. And that can be fascinating stuff.
Punk's Not Dead serves as a diehard's scrapbook of three decades of living punk, not a eulogy for an extinct underground retrofitted as a fashion trend.
This film has an absolutely stellar cast of interviewees, so if you like punk music you’ll be in hog heaven watching it, I guarantee you.
Whether you’re a kid with a fresh coat of shellac on your Mohawk or an aging hipster still clinging to the Johnny Rotten school of snot, it’s a film that enlightens the debate and demonstrates without a doubt that when punk disappears, it never truly dies
Punk's Not Dead is a documentary of immense personality and information...a film that enlightens the debate and demonstrates without a doubt that when punk disappears, it never truly dies.
Structured very loosely along chronological lines, Punk's Not Dead takes core samples from musical forefathers, mid-period bands, and snotty young kids, building a jangly, contradictory mosaic as it goes.
Pacy, broad-based overview of the punk rock scene from 1977 to present packages a who's who of luminaries and rare performance clips into a vibrant proof-of-life statement underpinned by keen analysis of sociopolitical issues.
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