Alex Steyermark, a man who's worked in the music department on movies for decades, made his own filmmaking debut with this decent drama. Gina Gershon stars as Jacki, lead singer and rhythm guitarist for an all female punk rock band, Clamdandy, in the late 1980s. The film shows what happens as she and her band mates deal with the chaos in their lives. Among other things, there's a creepy boyfriend (Ivan Martin), an ex-con brother (Marc Blucas), and a bass guitarist (Drea de Matteo) who's kind of a mess.
"Prey for Rock & Roll" is nothing great, but it does have a feeling of real authenticity to it. It's based on the autobiographical play by Cheri Lovedog, a real life West Coast musician. It's actually fairly realistic when it comes to the subject of making it in the music business. Clamdandy does make some reasonably listenable music, but most of it is nothing special; one exception is their effectively angry "Every Six Minutes", a warning to rapists. The girls (also including Lori Petty as the lead guitarist and Shelly Cole as the drummer) look just right and the dialogue, while sometimes pretty profane, is appropriate for these characters. The film does get somewhat melodramatic at times, but at least it never goes truly overboard in the attempt to manipulate the viewer. It does offer a fairly satisfying comeuppance for the story's most vile character.
The performances are all very good. Gershon, who also did her own singing, took guitar lessons from real life rock star Joan Jett, and actually played clubs with real bands. She does a wonderful job of convincing you that she's really part of this scene, and is the main reason to watch this film.
Commendably, this doesn't try to come off as some sort of fairy tale, offering instead a resolution that is believable.
Worth a look for rock & roll lovers, and those musicians out there living their dream.
Seven out of 10.
"Prey for Rock & Roll" is nothing great, but it does have a feeling of real authenticity to it. It's based on the autobiographical play by Cheri Lovedog, a real life West Coast musician. It's actually fairly realistic when it comes to the subject of making it in the music business. Clamdandy does make some reasonably listenable music, but most of it is nothing special; one exception is their effectively angry "Every Six Minutes", a warning to rapists. The girls (also including Lori Petty as the lead guitarist and Shelly Cole as the drummer) look just right and the dialogue, while sometimes pretty profane, is appropriate for these characters. The film does get somewhat melodramatic at times, but at least it never goes truly overboard in the attempt to manipulate the viewer. It does offer a fairly satisfying comeuppance for the story's most vile character.
The performances are all very good. Gershon, who also did her own singing, took guitar lessons from real life rock star Joan Jett, and actually played clubs with real bands. She does a wonderful job of convincing you that she's really part of this scene, and is the main reason to watch this film.
Commendably, this doesn't try to come off as some sort of fairy tale, offering instead a resolution that is believable.
Worth a look for rock & roll lovers, and those musicians out there living their dream.
Seven out of 10.