The Punk Singer

The Punk Singer is a bio flick of root girrrl Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of the band Bikini Kill.

I'm honestly not familiar with Kathleen Hanna's music. I was searching for items on the local library's card catalog and this came up in the search results and since I enjoy this type of thing I put in a request for the DVD.

I found the Punk Singer to be an entertaining film. There's interviews with various artists that Kathleen has played with. I can't say how in depth the film is as I'm not too familiar with Kathleen Hanna or Bikini Kill, but it's a cool film none the less. I didn't know that she was married to one of the Beastie Boys or that she was friends with Kurt Cobane.

Kathleen Hanna seems like a cool artists who stands up for women's rights and is an icon of the Riot Girrrl scene.

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.

'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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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!

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.