The Punk Singer

18 November 2013 | 4:56 pm | Madeleine Laing

Director Sini Anderson has given the story over to the women who were there, and their voices are incredibly powerful.

The Punk Singer starts out energetic and exciting, with fast cuts between Riot Grrrl co-creator and the film's subject, punk singer Kathleen Hanna, preforming with Bikini Kill, and people like Kim Gordon, Joan Jett, Corinne Tucker, and Tavi Gevinson passionately explaining what Hanna and the Riot Grrrl movement have meant to them. From this fierce opening you're hit immediately with the force of Hanna's personality and how much she did for women who had spent their whole lives being silenced. Director Sini Anderson has given the story over to the women who were there, and their voices are incredibly powerful. About halfway through though, the film takes a  dark turn, as Hanna becomes ill with a mystery sickness that not only made her unable to sing, but deeply depressed. However, her relationship with Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock from The Beastie Boys) is as strong as her incredible will to survive, and the film ends with a triumphant Hanna on stage again.