Documentaries are some of my favorite films to watch. I don't know why exactly, probably because the public school system has pounded it into my head for so long that I should view myself as a "career student" that my only real passion in life is to learn and be taught. Which has it's uses, none of which have any real merit or draw from free thought, but let's put aside my quasi social meta-commentary and talk about what I promised to talk about.
American Hardcore is a documentary on. . . you guessed it: American Hardcore punk. The doc dives straight into how it started, where, why, by whom, and let's the real people behind it all do the talking. Not a narrator in sight and I like it that way. I view narrators in films the same way I view lyrics in songs. When they're good, they're good, but when they're bad, oh my God they're bad. They can hurt you a whole lot more than they can help you. A prime example of this would be the documentary on the real Avon Barksdale from the HBO series The Wire. The narrator is so loud and obnoxious you just keep wishing Mr. Barksdale would become aware of his presence and cap his ass Baltimore style.
Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins, and a whole slew of other artists from some of the biggest and most influential hardcore bands of the day tell how they got started, what kept them going, what the music meant to them, and why it all came to a crashing halt. So, great interviews, great line-up, hilarious dialogue, and extremely informative. So what's not to like? Well, the execution of these flawless parts seems a bit schizophrenic at times, jumping back and forth between a variety of subjects in a short amount of time near the latter half of the film, but it hardly bothered me. Overall the documentary is great and full of memorable moments that will have you talking about it for a long time after its viewing.
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