To grow up in America is to, at one point or another, rebel against the world around you. If you're Stevo and you live in Reagan-era Salt Lake City, then, well...you just have to rebel a little bit harder. To this recent grad, the world is his enemy, anarchy his religion, and the Ramones, The Specials and the Dead Kennedys his muses. As he takes us on a guided tour of his life, we meet all sorts of punks, poseurs, mods, freaks and a few others best described as indescribable. Stevo's ex-hippie father sees his lifestyle as a rite of passage and urges him to attend Harvard Law School like himself. Not to sell out to the system, but to buy in. For Stevo, underneath the mohawk haircuts, earrings and leather, the idea, painfully, has some merit. The question becomes; how do you stay hard-core and still hope for a life beyond?(sony pictures)
SLC Punk! is a strange and funny movie from director James Merendino. There are some elements of Merendino's life in the story of the movie, but overall, it is a work of fiction. In the eighties, punk rock was the ultimate form of rebellion. Being a punk rocker in Mormon Salt Lake City can be considered being the ultimate outsider. Stevo and Bob can't relate to anyone or anything around them, and the people around them can't relate to them. But oddly enough, Stevo has this nagging feeling that something is missing from his life. Is anarchy the way to go? Or is something else out there? Drinking, getting high and getting into fights used to be fun, but now, the glamour of it all is gone.Merendino's script is not quite conventional. The movie is told from Stevo's point of view, and if he wants to tell the audience something, he turns right towards the camera and starts talking. He tells you his philosophy on life, and how he feels about his friends and the people around him. You truly experience the world through his eyes. Lillard does an excellent job on his first outing as a movie headliner. His anger and frustration appear very real, as does his sadness and confusion. For some movies, it seems that a soundtrack is established first, then the script is written. SLC Punk! is definitely not the case. The soundtrack fits perfectly into the movie, with tracks by the Dead Kennedys, the Ramones, the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, the Specials, and more. Merendino effectively creates an atmosphere of rebellion, and is effectively able to transform Stevo from a young punk to a young man.
Rude Boy Rates it: 10+
1 hour, 37 minutes, Rated R for language, drug use, and some sex.