This is an engaging and original take on the "High School is Hell" theme. But for me the most striking element was the performances of the two lead characters, Christian Slater as Mark, and Samantha Mattis as Nora -- not just for themselves, but for what they reminded me of.
My all-time favorite movie is "Running on Empty," by Sidney Lumet (1988). The story, style, tone, and production scale of that film is entirely different than "Pump Up the Volume." But...
But the two teen characters of "Running on Empty," River Phoenix as Danny Pope, and Martha Plimpton as Lorna Phillips, were evidently the inspiration for Slater and Mattis in PUTV, so much so that I wonder if "Pump Up the Volume" was originally written for River Phoenix.
Slater is a fine actor in his own right, yet his Mark is an echo of -- or tribute to -- Phoenix's Danny. This is true on a broad scale, both characters' isolation as the new kid in high school, with lots of profound secrets; both characters' pursuit by, attraction to, and turning away from, the alienated pretty but crazy girl in the class -- who yet proves to be the woman who makes a man out of each of these boys.
Vaudeville quote: "Life has a way of evening things up. For every woman who makes a fool out of some man, there's another who makes a man out of some fool."
It's even more true in detail: Mark's manner of walking and talking, his self-effacing modesty around his peers, even the way he flips his hair and fidgets with his eyeglasses, all echo Phoenix's Danny.
Mattis's Nora is a stronger character than Plimpton's Lorna. Her role in the story is more active, and so her performance is more dynamic -- not better, just different. Her look is also very different, unlike the uncanny physical resemblance of Mark and Danny, but this mainly reflects differences in the stories and their settings. Mattis's Nora does seem to have borrowed many of her mannerisms, and her articulate manner of speaking, from Plimpton's Lorna.
Is this character emulation a bad thing? Not at all, at least not here, because it works. Of course when you have a seen "Running On Empty" as many dozen times as I have (hmm, I think I'll go watch it again -- yup, still great), it is more than a little distracting.
This sort of character emulation is not unique in Hollywood. Another example that leaps to mind is Jeff Bridges in "Arlington Road," playing a sort of downbeat Harrison Ford. I expect you can think of others.
As to the movie itself, "Pump Up the Volume" is no more realistic a depiction of high school than most of the movies in its genre -- for the very good reason that a realistic movie about high school would be too boring and too depressing to watch. The best high school movies (e.g. "Dazed and Confused" "Bring It On" "Foxfire") don't show more than a few moments of classes, because no one cares about or remembers most of their high school classes. This is a good thing -- my high school biology teacher said in 1960: everything we are teaching you here will be obsolete in three years (she was overly sanguine. "Facts" were either already obsolete by the time they sifted down to high school, or were wrong to begin with).
If anything, PUTV's vision of high school is even darker than most, and to me this is a plus. Are there really high school administrators out there who are as vicious and depraved as the characters in this movie? Sadly, yes, quite a few, and some even worse. So although this movie is a fantasy, its message should resonate for anyone who was, or is, a teenager.
If you have dug this deep into the website, you probably have a pretty good idea what this movie is about, so I won't recap. I am both picky and eccentric in what I like in movies. PUTV is no classic, but I liked it a lot. If you find you like it, too (or even if you don't), by all means take a look at "Running on Empty," which is certainly a classic. Both films' DVDs can be found in Walmart's $5.50 bins.
My all-time favorite movie is "Running on Empty," by Sidney Lumet (1988). The story, style, tone, and production scale of that film is entirely different than "Pump Up the Volume." But...
But the two teen characters of "Running on Empty," River Phoenix as Danny Pope, and Martha Plimpton as Lorna Phillips, were evidently the inspiration for Slater and Mattis in PUTV, so much so that I wonder if "Pump Up the Volume" was originally written for River Phoenix.
Slater is a fine actor in his own right, yet his Mark is an echo of -- or tribute to -- Phoenix's Danny. This is true on a broad scale, both characters' isolation as the new kid in high school, with lots of profound secrets; both characters' pursuit by, attraction to, and turning away from, the alienated pretty but crazy girl in the class -- who yet proves to be the woman who makes a man out of each of these boys.
Vaudeville quote: "Life has a way of evening things up. For every woman who makes a fool out of some man, there's another who makes a man out of some fool."
It's even more true in detail: Mark's manner of walking and talking, his self-effacing modesty around his peers, even the way he flips his hair and fidgets with his eyeglasses, all echo Phoenix's Danny.
Mattis's Nora is a stronger character than Plimpton's Lorna. Her role in the story is more active, and so her performance is more dynamic -- not better, just different. Her look is also very different, unlike the uncanny physical resemblance of Mark and Danny, but this mainly reflects differences in the stories and their settings. Mattis's Nora does seem to have borrowed many of her mannerisms, and her articulate manner of speaking, from Plimpton's Lorna.
Is this character emulation a bad thing? Not at all, at least not here, because it works. Of course when you have a seen "Running On Empty" as many dozen times as I have (hmm, I think I'll go watch it again -- yup, still great), it is more than a little distracting.
This sort of character emulation is not unique in Hollywood. Another example that leaps to mind is Jeff Bridges in "Arlington Road," playing a sort of downbeat Harrison Ford. I expect you can think of others.
As to the movie itself, "Pump Up the Volume" is no more realistic a depiction of high school than most of the movies in its genre -- for the very good reason that a realistic movie about high school would be too boring and too depressing to watch. The best high school movies (e.g. "Dazed and Confused" "Bring It On" "Foxfire") don't show more than a few moments of classes, because no one cares about or remembers most of their high school classes. This is a good thing -- my high school biology teacher said in 1960: everything we are teaching you here will be obsolete in three years (she was overly sanguine. "Facts" were either already obsolete by the time they sifted down to high school, or were wrong to begin with).
If anything, PUTV's vision of high school is even darker than most, and to me this is a plus. Are there really high school administrators out there who are as vicious and depraved as the characters in this movie? Sadly, yes, quite a few, and some even worse. So although this movie is a fantasy, its message should resonate for anyone who was, or is, a teenager.
If you have dug this deep into the website, you probably have a pretty good idea what this movie is about, so I won't recap. I am both picky and eccentric in what I like in movies. PUTV is no classic, but I liked it a lot. If you find you like it, too (or even if you don't), by all means take a look at "Running on Empty," which is certainly a classic. Both films' DVDs can be found in Walmart's $5.50 bins.