Let it teach you a thing or two.
I can’t tell how long it’s been since I wrote my last review, maybe a few weeks have passed, maybe an entire eternity, I can’t for the life of me keep track of time anymore now that I’m back in the clutches of work. That indeed is a ramble for another time, keep professionalism and bitching about professionalism apart.
If ever there was a film that made me feel a massive sense of talentlessness, it would be this one. I like to play the bass guitar, and I’m using the word “play” in its loosest and most crude form, because by play I actually mean making a discordant din, annoying anyone who is unfortunate enough to be in the room with or next to me. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it however and every now and again I manage to play something that is looking in the same direction of a melody. After rewatching School of Rock (2003) yesterday and reading that all the children actually played their instruments made me wonder, what on earth am I doing with myself? That 10-year-old can play astronomically better than me, what was I doing when I was 10? Eating sand. I hear this strange squeaking noise come from outside, good timing as well because it’s best if I move on before more rude reality checks come crashing down on me.
Am I somehow losing the ability to write a clear and coherent review? It seems that with each one, the sections where I mindlessly ramble are slowly eclipsing the real content of these reviews. No bother, it doesn’t matter who reads these anyway, they’re for my own purposes to kill time in a productive way.
To me, Richard Linklater’s corpus of films is a collection of rather thought provoking and touching material ranging from the corporeal to the ethereal and everything that lies in between. His aesthetic distinction and sensitive narrative tones are poignant and they make you think about things that are laying right in front of your very eyes. School of Rock follows a guitarist down on his luck, kicked out of his band, overdue on his rent and completely broke in everything but ambitions, he poses as a substitute teacher at a high-class prep school where he begins to orchestrate a clandestine operation of teaching the students rock and roll to form his own band with them so he can compete in Battle of the Bands. This offering, though not missing in any measure of a moving story, is a completely different vibe from his other films. It’s whacky and cool and is not afraid to have fun. Perhaps that may have something to do with Jack Black, as even though he’s playing himself once again, one gets the impression that he’s having a whale of a time, and his energy exudes and spills onto everyone else.
I’ve watched this film several times as a kid and never had I a scintilla of an idea that the kids are actually playing their instruments, this fact gives the film the sort of performative authenticity that you’d find in other Linklater films, particularly Boyhood (2014). It’s a sense of genuineness that he strives for, not only in the stories he tells but in how he tells them.
The coolness of the film doesn’t just come from the countless rock music references, the fact that they managed to get Immigrant Song a part of the soundtrack as Led Zeppelin are strongly against their music being used in films or TV, or just premise of the story, but that awesomeness is all over the cinematography too. This enthusiasm starts off immediately with the opening credits in the form of band posters as the camera walks into a rock bar and introduces us to our central protagonist. Throughout the film a couple of really smooth match transitions and framing techniques make the film an electric surprise to watch, leading all the way to the explosive climax of the film, which to me looks like the album cover of AC/DC’s Blow up your Video, it’s such a delight to watch it all the way through. At times this cinematic virtuosity takes a break to go backstage and sort out the equipment or change strings while the narrative and story unfolds, but never is it gone for too long for the film to seem unbalanced or boring.
I even found myself almost choking up with delight and fervour for how far the kids go and how they develop from hard-nosed snobs to really laid-back awesome people, in spite of how many times I’ve seen this film and know how it turns out. If that’s not a sign of a good story, then your guess is as good as mine.
If you’re a fan of good music and Jack Black, both of which happen to go together really well, I highly recommend this film because it’s damn good. Now that I have a few moments of nothing to do and an empty house to myself, I will make lots of noise on my bass guitar. Actually I won’t I have a video essay to edit, I’m just lying to keep in tune with the review.
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