The Punk Singer (2013) User Reviews

"I'm your worst nightmare come to life! I'm a girl who you can't shut up!"

[aawhitham · 8/10 · 2 December 2013]

"I'm your worst nightmare come to life! I'm a girl who you can't shut up!" On an old home video in a tiny living room, a woman screams about pain, feminism, and the aggression of men in Olympia, Washington, in 1991. It's the voice of Kathleen Hanna, who will front groundbreaking punk band Bikini Kill and feminist party band Le Tigre, help launch the Riot Grrrl movement, inspire a mainstream grunge rock scene dominated by men, and courageously and emphatically serve as the mouthpiece for every girl who thought she could only whisper things in her bedroom.

Over 20 years later, Hanna is finally given her day in rock history in director Sini Anderson's award-winning documentary THE PUNK SINGER. The origin stories this born leader, third wave feminist icon, and ultimate low-fi artist are brought to life through archival footage, intimate interviews, and commentaries by Kim Gordon, Carrie Brownstein, Ann Powers, Adam Horovitz, and former bandmates. Hanna's in-your-face activism—through lyrics, zines, and manifestos—moved women to the front, literally and figuratively. Two decades later, Hanna is still ripping down barriers of music and gender and art, still proudly saying "Stay out of my way!"

Much-needed documentary...not only about Kathleen Hanna, but of the indie-punk music scene in the early '90s

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 12 January 2015]

Excellent documentary from director Sini Anderson on Bikini Kill/Le Tigre front woman Kathleen Hanna, who dropped out of the music biz in 2005 after contracting late-stage Lyme disease (but who kept her disappearance mysterious, hardly disclosing her illness to anyone). A rage-filled college girl from Olympia, Washington, Hanna was a rabid feminist with a troubled childhood whose jagged fanzine art and spoken word rants eclipsed into musical genius with her first band, Bikini Kill. Although not for the faint-of-heart, Bikini Kill (three females, one male) were instrumental in leading the Riot Grrrl movement of the early 1990s. Testimonials from Hanna's peers (including members of Bratmobile and Sleater-Kinney, Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth and Joan Jett, who produced Bikini Kill's most proficient EP) help fill in some of the personality gaps, yet when Anderson just allows Hanna to speak--and when the musician opens up, she's quite candid--the results are fascinating, most especially for fans. Also interesting: the potentially-explosive paradox of a young, hardcore feminist who finds true love (and eventually marriage) with a male kindred spirit, Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys. *** from ****

Inspiring, funny, sad - a great introduction to a powerfully subversive artist

[runamokprods · 8/10 · 19 September 2016]

One of the many good things documentaries can do is make you aware of a person, a movement, a moment that you somehow overlooked, and help you realize just how important and how wonderful that person (or art form or whatever) was and/or is.

So it was for me with "The Punk Singer". Not growing up a big punk fan, I missed out on Kathleen Hanna and Bikini Kill, and the Riot Grrrl movement. My loss. This angry, joyful, tough, articulate, crazy, sexy, insightful, funny, political artist was a major force in feminism and social politics, and if I came late to the party I'm grateful to the film for making the introduction now.

The film can be uneven – some (not all) of the talking head interviews with others aren't very interesting - when compared to the performance footage of Hannah, or her ability to analyze her work and it's meaning in her own interviews – but I ended up inspired by the woman and the artist, and inspiration these days is in short supply.

I Never Knew This Kathleen Hanna

[notbrick · 10/10 · 10 December 2013]

While I listened to Bikini Kill and Le Tigre I never sought out that much info on Kathleen Hanna, especially since that was much harder to find in Bikini Kill's active years. Watching this documentary made me fantasize about going back in time and begging Bikini Kill to let me carry their equipment before quietly slipping away so they could have all female Riot Grrrl meetings.

Nothing is left out that needed saying. The trauma of her past is acknowledged without morbidity, and her success is tempered by the realities of Bikini Kill's grueling tour life. The movie does a great job of giving equal time to her days with Le Tigre and Julie Ruin, as well as her relationship with Adrock.

I have to admit I found myself a little ashamed of how stricken I was by just how beautiful Hanna is and was. I know this movie isn't about her looks but I hadn't seen most of the live show footage before and honestly I was taken aback. The movie doesn't shy away from acknowledging how Kathleen used her sexuality on stage and the criticisms against her by those who thought a feminist had a responsibility to be non-sexual.

This movie is a must for anyone who loves punk, American feminism, riot grrrls, or ever had their lip split open in a pit.

Great Rock Doc!

[SoSickOfTheRain · 9/10 · 28 April 2014]

One of the best rock documentaries I've seen. Well made, you really get a sense of Kathleen Hanna, everything she stands for and all she's been through. It's not a glossy profile full of butt-kissing. You get the good and the bad.

It's also a fascinating look at the riot grrl movement. Despite knowing the music, I was hardly aware of many of the details. It's about a lot more than just punk rock.

This is excellent filmmaking, about a riveting subject, that made me pulling out my old Bikini Kill cds.

In a nutshell, it rocks!

A must see for lovers of Northwest music

[willimar · 7/10 · 11 December 2013]

I saw this movie after reading the siff website and went to check it out. In my opinion it is a well-made biographical documentary that outlines the Northwest music scene. It taught my friend why it "smells like teen spirit" and it taught me what a feminist band is. I was interested in seeing the feminist movement that grew out of Olympia, Washington. The movie is youthful and tragic. It is easy to sympathize with the characters.

Though I was not familiar with anything regarding Kathleen Hanna's life before seeing the movie, there is for sure a charisma that radiates from Kathleen that is well depicted in the film. But I am not one to judge whether it is a factually accurate documentary. It shows her entire life from early to late years and I was especially intrigued to see her reflect upon her youth.

Interesting but biased and frankly lame

[steveg-264-66591 · 3 April 2014]

Kathleen Hanna, the talented lead of a 90's punk band makes waves appealing to a niche audience of punk rock fans that admire or agree with a feminist stance. No, stop...it wasn't the music (aside from her)turning people off - it was because the group is admittedly horrible and unapologetic about it.

I'm not invested in this film, nor have I ever heard of them. I just find it odd that Kathleen scrawls "Incest" on her chest before live shows and then bemoans the consequence when people think she suffered from it. (go figure).

This was during the 90's? What serious systemic anti-feminist movements were occurring?

She goes on to state her boyfriend made jokes around inequality. So she dates him on the sly for years.

I would never sexualize this woman. I don't need to, to make her and the band to become irrelevant.

Kathleen Hanna seems like a really beautiful, strong and admirable woman.

[Hellmant · 8/10 · 29 December 2013]

'THE PUNK SINGER': Four Stars (Out of Five)

Documentary film about Kathleen Hanna; an iconic punk singer, poet and feminism activist. The film combines archive footage (of Hanna, her band members, people close to her and the many musicians and fans that she's inspired) with interviews (of mostly the same people) filmed in 2010 and 2011. It was directed by first time feature film director Sini Anderson and features many popular musicians (in recent interview footage) like Joan Jett and Adam Horovitz (of 'Beastie Boys' fame, who Hanna married). Not knowing much about Hanna (and being a big fan of punk music) I found the movie to be very informative and interesting.

The movie follows Hanna's career from her beginnings as a spoken word poet, through her fronting two bands ('Bikini Kill' and 'Le Tigre') to her solo musical career (as Julie Ruin). It examines the impact she had on the punk music scene, as well as her many feminism causes, and how she helped start the 'riot grrrl' movement. We see awesome video of her bands performing live as well as fascinating behind the scenes footage and involving interviews. Through the movie fans can learn about her troubled childhood (for the first time) as well as why she suddenly quit music (and the medical diagnosis behind it).

I love punk music and seeing Hanna perform (in this movie) I know I could be a big fan of hers and her bands. I also think she seems like a really beautiful, strong and admirable woman and when people like her develop a big following (and really inspire many others) that's always a good thing. So I really enjoyed learning about Hanna, and her music, in this movie. Had I already been a fan of hers, and known a lot of the information given in this film, I can't say I probably would have enjoyed it as much. The subject matter is fascinating but Anderson has a few more things to learn about directing and putting together a movie. Still, for a debut film, she didn't do a bad job. I was definitely entertained.

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The Vidiot Reviews...

[capone666 · 8/10 · 1 August 2014]

The Punk Singer

The key to empowering women is to tell'em men are into empowered woman.

Or, you could do as this documentary denotes and front a punk band.

From her humble beginnings as a spoken-word poet, Kathleen Hanna has confronted audiences with feminist issues.

However, it wasn't until she learned that she could reach a wider audience through music that Hanna's unique voice was finally heard.

Through her bands Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, The Julie Ruin, and her outspoken contributions to 'zines, Hanna pioneered the Riot Grrl movement.

Entrenched in the '90s music scene, she also influenced Kurt Cobain and Sonic Youth.

But in 2005 her successful singing career ended under a cloud of secrecy.

Insightful and engaging, The Punk Singer is a rousing portrait of an activist and artist few know, but many should respect.

Furthermore, feminism and punk rock have a lot in common: piercings, hair dye and no mainstream acceptance.

Green Light

vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Self-Indulgent Tripe

[askmrpickles · 4/10 · 22 May 2014]

Firstly, let me say this: I agree that Kathleen Hanna played a very important role in feminist history and I respect her for that. Get down with your bad Riot Grrrl self! However, please, for the love of whomever you find sacred, please get some perspective!

I am very sorry that she is suffering from what is revealed at the end of this film. I am, I truly am. I have not walked a mile in her shoes but I can only assume that her journey through her health issues have been a nightmare.

Here's my problem with the film: it's such an exercise in navel-gazing and delusion, at times it's almost painful to watch. If she would have just OWNED the fact that she's married to a Beastie Boy and has access to care and treatment that most normal people do not, I would have found her story more tolerable. And let's not forget that this is supposed to be an empowered feminist, yet when she talks of her stripper past (which I am NOT judging her for), she says, "It was the only decent paying job I could get." I call B.S. on that! Honey, just own it! You wanted to strip for the money - no big deal. But please don't make it out like it was the ONLY job you could get. Puh-leeeeze! We are basically the same age and while she's a heck of a lot cuter than I ever was and looked better in a bikini than I ever did, I found a way to have a decent paying job where I didn't remove my clothes (my choice).

I wanted to love this movie. But I did not. I did however love all the old 90s footage and some fun interviews with the likes of Kim Gordon and Tavi Gevinson.

"any documentary should have tried to cover the criticism as well as the praises, and the punk singer only did the second."

[Giz_Medium · 1/10 · 1 November 2020]

Should I start by saying I like some of Bikini Kill's music ? Ok. This movie isn't good. Regardless of where you stand on the criticism of kathleen hanna, and there is a lot to say about this (but I'm not going to go deeper on this), any documentary should have tried to cover the criticism as well as the praises, and the punk singer only did the second. There is so much praises in this movie that it makes it sound like there were no wom*n in punk before her (see "from the back of the room" about this particular issue), and that she was the sole person responsible for triggering the riot grrl movement. don't get me wrong, she totally deserves the credit for what she did, but this movie gives her way too much of it. I had heard bad reviews of it before, and didn't made a point to watch it, but when my friends told me they were going to watch it some night, I stuck around like I often do. In the end it sounds like when advertisement are presented as short-movies, or maybe the criticism are hidden in the DVD bonuses. The feeling of entitlement coming out of the parts about her struggle with lyme disease were also disturbing. Not to write-off the disease itself, it felt like a lot was focused on the fact that there was a double standards in between the cheap test, and the two thouand dollars one, and that only the people able to afford the second one could be appropriately diagnosed with the disease, hence making it a privilege rather unspoken during the parts she was interviewed about it. cool soundtrack.

This story could have been told much better.

[undergroundeurope · 2/10 · 11 August 2021]

I have always thought documentaries are out there to tell you what really happened and because they´re documentaries, they´d give you both sides of the story. So, I´d say, if you are someone infatuated by the persona of Kathleen Hanna, you should be making a documentary about someone else and leave the job to someone who isn´t. Unfortunately, what we have here is a biased movie that wants to glorify this person and leaves a poor documentary behind. It just touches on different subjects superficially and then leaves for the next one without explanation sometimes puportedly skipping the facts. A few examples why this movie just isn´t what it should be.

At some point Hanna mentions an abusive father as a reaction on something untrue written in the newspaper that was probably the aftermath of her writing "incest" on her chest. We get a short drift of her abusive father and that´s it. Instead, when the movie covered Hanna´s childhood, why not focus on the abuse in the family? It would have helped the viewer understand the events later on.

Further down the road it´s mentioned that Courtney Love punched Kathleen Hanna at Lollapalooza 1995. Now, as a viewer, I´d like to know why she was punched. Did she say something or do something to deserve the punch? Instead, the movie doesn´t ask that question: it only portrays Hanna as a victim who, a viewer would assume undeservedly, received a punch. Did the author not care enough to dig into this, or she just wanted to ameliorate the story leaving the details out? In days when information is at the fingertips, probably the latter.

In 1996 Bikini Kill toured Europe with Team Dresch (I believe for about half of the tour). I´d have expected to see Team Dresch members say a thing or two in the movie or even hear about this tour, but alas, nothing. No Team Dresch members are interviewed. Did they have nothing to say or did they have no praise for Kathleen Hanna?

Then we move to Le Tigre. The documentary tells us the story of the band starting right at the beginning, but skipping completely one of the founding members! She´s not even mentioned in the movie. Whoa! What kind of documentary is this??

And the list goes on and on.

On top of all that, I had the impression that the author wanted a 100% female movie which is fine by all means and I would have loved to see that, but no. She includes interviews with Ad Rock of Beastie Boys because he´s Kathleen Hanna´s husband, but completely ignores Billy Karren who was the guitar player for Bikini Kill for the whole time when band was active back in the 90s. Billy only gets the mention as the male member of the band and interviews are only with the female members. For a band that is screaming for equality of genders, I find this hypocritical.

I could go on and on, but the movie has so many flaws that this would become a book, not a review.

The two bits I loved about this movie was the fact it shows how punk shows and pits were testosterone dominated and explains how Bikini Kill stepped in to change that (albeit Fugazi were doing it for 3-4 years already by that point - no mention in the movie, unfortunately). And I loved the historical insight into the three waves of femminism, as they put things into the perspective.

As a documentary, this movie serves no real purpose except giving us some original footage from the 90s. Bummer.