There is no Jack Black in sight — no male teachers at all — but a new documentary is definitely another school of rock.
This is “Girls Rock!” — a look inside a five-day summer camp in Portland, Ore. Girls between the ages of 8 and 18 are sequestered here to form bands, write songs and perform their stuff after just a week of practice.
As the movie makes clear, it’s also about female empowerment. Early on, the Britney Spears model of young femininity is held up for mockery, and the camp is meant to be about valuing the rocker within, not conforming to the superficial images of MTV and “Access: Hollywood.”
The girls are taught by women in the music business (including Carrie Brownstein, from Sleater-Kinney). Everybody breaks up into little groups, by age and genre (hip hop, metal, rock, whatever), and the music making begins.
Some of it goes smoothly; some of it stalls. “Girls Rock!” admits that the personalities of these kids don’t always mesh right away.
We focus on a few girls in particular. Amelia, for instance, is a refugee from “Little Miss Sunshine” who can’t always wait for her bandmates to get the rhythm going.
Palace is a forceful little tyke with problems fitting in. But when she’s singing/screaming, sometimes with hilariously jaded lyrics, she’s totally in her element.
Laura is a 15-year-old Korean adoptee with an outgoing, apparently cheerful personality, which makes it all the more curious when she confides she doesn’t like herself very much. Death metal is her musical styling of choice.
Directors Shane King and Arne Johnson do a nice job of tying in the musical fun with the bigger issues at stake. No big revelations emerge from this, but 60 years after its birth, rock and roll comes out smelling like a rose.
SIFF Cinema has arranged some special events with the movie. Everett resident Marissa Lytle, a camp attendee, will speak at Saturday’s matinee. Co-director Johnson will be on hand for questions Tuesday and Wednesday.
And anybody who comes opening weekend will be entered in a drawing to win a Fender Stratocaster guitar, a limited edition made for the movie. Let’s hope it goes to a 12-year-old.
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