Queen City Rocker

The Kiwis mostly make good films, with few exceptions. Queen City Rocker happens to be one of them. To be perfectly frank, when first viewing it, I had no idea this was a Kiwi flick. The story concerning, a very anger driven guy, his character is an open book, I guess is part criminal, part crusader. He's a garbo, and runs a slick theft while on his rounds, along with his best friends, I thought was cool. When not working, to fight boredom, him and his friends engage in more criminal activity, while causing other s..t. This guy is really angry at the world and his injustice. His sister is a high class escort, run by a crime mob, which really peeves little brother, part of it being jealously, and you do get a look at some nice lovelies in gaudy attire. Her and little brother out of this go nowhere life, and when he clashes with the bad dudes, it does cost, fatally for one, from whence, there's a violent retaliation, towards it's climax. QCR is definitely aimed at teens who will enjoy this angst driven drama, where it's like The Warriors meeting Tuff Turf a little, it's lead rebel, definitely a character of arrested focus, and that goes for the actors performance too. There are some great pumping rock tracks too, in this colourful and hard fisted action pic, pulsing with much angry energy.

I'm confused as to why 'The Quiet Earth' should be listed as the recommended title to viewers who have watched Queen City Rocker ('Tearaway' to us Yanks) as they are two completely different films, other than having the common trait of being New Zealand productions.

Moreover, I didn't find Queen City Rocker to be the rock n' roll (or punk) anthem comparable to 'Repo Man' or 'Sid & Nancy' (although it is just as solemn as 'Sid & Nancy') as the synopsis on the box compares this movie to those. There is hardly even a rock n' roll setting to this movie, aside from a few catchy songs on the soundtrack and one scene at a concert. Queen City Rocker is hardly about rock n' roll at all. It is, however, about a bunch of street tough teens who soon realize that their lives as small-time thieves and petty thugs are going nowhere fast.

Ska (Matt Hunter) is the main character. He's a young kid, quiet and presumably wise. His buddy is Andrew (Mark Pilisi), a young black kid who enjoys the free life. Fran is Ska's sister, and the one who's he on a dangerous mission to protect from the tight-fisted binds of a high class pimp/businessman.

Ska's epiphany to get off his ass and do something about his sister comes from an extroverted young girl he saves from being gang raped on the streets. Stacey comes from money, and it looks as though she initially likes the idea of "slumming it" purely for kicks, but as the story goes along, her interest in Ska and his determination seems genuine indeed. However, Stacey arrives in the movie so quickly, and as a motivating, it's hard to believe that a stranger with such an abrupt arrival should have such an impact on Ska's decisions. One could assume that he was planning to undertake the mission to save his sister and fix things with himself long before Stacey's arrival (as he sits atop the building in the beginning looking down on the street, Ska seems frustrated with the imprisoning street life and small town). Still, even as Stacey hangs around Ska more, they start to get very close, but once again, she doesn't seem to have much in common with Ska, or at least known him very long, that would make this romance aspect of the movie very believable.

Another thing, too, is that the story moves all too quickly. Ska plans to help his sister Fran quit the business and then fight off the high class pimp and his henchmen because Ska and Andrew do some vandamage to the guy's hotel in the course of forcing Fran out (she's reluctant to ever quit herself because of the money). However, Ska and Andrew's opportunities for revenge seem to occur over the course of one day, if not simply a few hours. In most cases, where you're dealing with a do or die situation to get out of something dangerous, I would expect more than just a few hours or a day to mull things over (see Where the Day Takes You), especially when the resulting action is only minor. In fact, whatever Queen City Rocker was trying to express, they seemed to arrange it all in a compact story format.

Nonetheless, the product overall was good. Ska and his friend Andrew, despite being part of the hopeless street life, are appealing. They're like regular young kids just looking for a good time. Although for Ska, his good time soon comes to an end once he starts trying to define himself against everyone else. Hunter does a good job with his character. He seems like just a regular guy, not some obnoxious punk or anything like that. The movie is kind of slow at points, particularly in the beginning as you try to figure out a quiet guy like Ska. The mood is just plain all around. Nothing flashy, just simple. And for Queen City Rocker (again, 'Tearaway' for us Yanks), it worked out. It's definitely something to try out if you ever have the opportunity to catch it.

Here's a quirky little New Zealand gen-x rock and roll oddity (released on VHS in the states as TEARAWAY; possibly the only title that could be worse than QUEEN CITY ROCKER), this sleeper has moments of genuine power and the advantage of aching earnestness. The thumping soundtrack is chockful of up-and-coming mid-80s NZ bands you've never heard of (especially if you're from the west), but is surprisingly effective. None of the actors in this modest production will likely ever be nominated for anything other than "most horrific haircut," but lead Matthew Hunter smartly radiates the angsty alienation of surly late teendom as "Ska" and his punky girlfriend is also pretty effective. This is an early overseas reaction to MTV videos and the chop cut short attention span editing style is clearly an effort to do something of an updated music video version of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. Not entirely successful, but packs an occasional emotional wallop and is an interesting time capsule of mid-late 80s sensibilities regardless.

Not much plot here, but then, the story documents a quasi-episodic "Sid and Nancy" kind of adrenaline-based random reactionary world that a certain segment of post adolescents tend to dwell in. Nothing to spend ten bucks in a theater for, but certainly worth a spin if it ever appears late night on cable or on VH1's "MOVIES THAT ROCK."