How sad is this?

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The Runaways 2010 movie is somewhat entertaining, but it is just that, a Hollywood movie. It takes tons of liberties with the truth, focuses on the lives of Cherie and Joan, creates aggregate characters, and leaves out some pertinent components of the Runaways history. It is a movie based on the Runaways, it is not the story of the Runaways.The documentary Edgeplay, by latter day Runaways bassist Vicki Blue, is essential viewing, but be forewarned, this is not some bloated rock star bragging about how many chicks he laid and how many drugs he took. Today's youth likes to talk about "being real", this is as real and raw as it gets, and it is mind-bending.The most riveting segment is the interview with Sandy West. West is driven upon release from a prison term by Fox to a location where she is interviewed by Blue. She's not fully stable, perhaps even a bit disoriented she asks for permission to smoke a cigarette, becomes emotional in discussing the demise of the Runaways and her own life after the band, and discloses elements of a harrowing criminal life, till she finally breaks down saying "I just wanted to be a drummer in a rock band." The emotional intensity is off the charts. The camera zooms in and the deep lines in her face reflect the harshness of the life she has lived.At times, the participants ask for the camera to stop rolling, but it appears the camera continues to roll a bit. Currie, Williams (West's mom), and West all had remorse about some of what they disclosed during the taping of the movie and tried to appeal to Blue to not include certain content, so much so that West showed up at Blue's house one night high out of her mind with a gun and a thug accomplice in an attempt to get the tape back from Blue, the LAPD with police helicopters removed West, Blue didn't press charges against West, Blue fled L.A. in lived out in the desert out of fear.The only Runaway interviewed that does not appear to have not suffered emotional damage is Ford. However, in the past couple years (after this movie was made), Ford's life has taken a bizarre twist and a whole movie could be made just about that.I cannot overstate how compelling (and disturbing) I found this movie. I've watched it several times, it is so brutal and honest, people disclosing sins and discussing things one would expect them to take to the grave. I can understand why some, such as Joan Jett, refused to participate in the movie due to it's Springer-like qualities at times. However, on Springer, the participants are instructed to act up for the cameras, none of the participants in Edgeplay were encouraged to ham it up for the camera, which is why it is so scary. The circumstances surrounding the making of this movie and the years it took for the film to come to light is a story unto itself. I generally disdain rock band reunions, find them almost pathetic, but I think the Runaways situation is an exception, and it would be in their best interest to reunite, although Sandy is unfortunately no longer alive. With the renewed interest in the Runaways in the aftermath of Edgeplay, the Runaways movie, and Currie's Neon Angel book, history pertaining to how they were received in 70s is being altered a bit, as if the Runaways were a huge commercial success with critical acclaim heaped upon them. But the Runaways were laughed at and treated derisively in more circles than they were admired in during their time. When I revisit their albums today, they are astounding, particularly when considering they were recorded by 16 & 17 year old musicians on limited budgets, and provide a bridge and glimpse into what was approaching on the music scene. Their first two studio albums and Live in Japan were released before the Sex Pistols "Never Mind the Bullocks". A reunion (if done correctly) would allow them to stake their claim in rock history they so richly deserve that they were denied in the 70s. Also, the Runaways did not make a lot of money during their initial career, a reunion could bring them a windfall of money, that in all fairness, they deserve. (Although I think they're all multimillionaires now anyway). If it is to happen, it would have to be soon, as the clock is ticking.Sorry for going a bit off track, back to Edgeplay. If you are looking for the traditional trite schlock rockumentary with clips of hit songs and musicians falling all over each gushing with praise, you're not going to find it Edgeplay. There isn't even any Runaways music in it because the rights were withheld (by Jett I believe). I can't think of anything like it I've ever seen for comparison. It is stunning beyond description. I strongly recommend.

A satisfying documentary about the all-girl rock group, The Runaways, made by former Runaway Vicki Blue. Where the recent movie THE RUNAWAYS (2010) felt like something of a white-wash of the story, this is the more informative work in comparison and is certainly recommended viewing for fans. Much of the dirty details are presented here, and we have former band members Cherie Currie, Sandy West, Lita Ford, and Jackie Fox all separately interviewed. So is former manager Kim Fowley. It's unfortunate that Joan Jett declined to participate, but strangely the film still works as a treasure trove of information even without her input. Due to rights issues we only get to see The Runaways performing two cover songs, and most of the soundtrack is courtesy of Lita Ford's solo music and Suzi Quatro tunes. But it's no matter, as the real meat of the production is in the juicy stories the girls relate to us. There are short snippets of some late Runaways footage which is not usually seen that leaves you aching to see more. Filmed in 2004, the parting thoughts are quite unsettling in retrospect when we witness drummer Sandy West pouring out her guts about her fondness for her old band and the regret she feels that they never reunited; tragically, West contracted lung cancer in 2005 and died in 2006. *** out of ****

The greatest strength of this very good-but-flawed documentary is honesty. Four of the five members of the most famous version of the group (excluding Joan Jett) provide extensive on-camera interviews, as does replacement bassist Vicki Blue (also the director), and they are mostly no holds barred. Instigator/original manager Kim Fowley also appears for guarded but unvarnished commentary. The original Runaways are all interviewed separately, and each provides her reminiscences. It is quite clear from the interviews that all the the original members look back at both the other members and the overall experience with a mixture of ambivalence, bitterness, and regret. Taken as a whole, their reminiscences provide a Roshoman-like perspective from which a net truth can be pieced. This is as close to that truth as we have gotten, and much closer than we get in the more recent bigger budget Runaways movie.To anyone interested in the Runaways story, or interested in the sordid machinations behind the Svengali fueled star-making machinery of the music business, this will be engrossing and will be essential viewing.That said, this documentary falls a bit short of great, due in varying degrees to a paucity of archival material, Joan Jett's failure to participate, and a somewhat too narrow, too inside approach to the story.OK, let's take those three points one at a time: 1) Limitations on the archival source material. Joan Jett declined to participate. As a result, vintage Runaways songs co-written by Jett were not available either for the soundtrack, or for video. Therefore, for example, footage of the Runaways performing is limited to two cover songs. The soundtrack is populated mostly by Lita Ford (solo) and Suzi Quatro songs. Perhaps more significant is the absence of vintage footage of the Runaways at press conferences, in TV interviews, etc. The contrast between the middle aged women the Runaways have become and these women as teenagers would have added tremendously to the film.2) Joan Jett's lack of participation. As noted, this resulted in the lack of vintage performance materials. But it also means we are not treated to Jett's perspective on the days of the Runaways. Surprisingly, this is a relatively modest loss. The interviews with the other former members are (seemingly) honest enough that they paint a pretty complete picture. One doesn't actually sense that her lack of interview participation leaves as large a hole as might be expected.3) A too narrow, too inside approach. The film takes as almost a given that the viewer is invested in the Runaways as cultural icons, and that there is little need to investigate their place in the development of pop music. While that's OK for die hards, it unnecessarily limits the appeal of this film. Where is the essential commentary contemporaries of The Runaways--from artists with whom they toured or co-mingled, such as The Ramones, Cheap Trick, Blondie, etc? Where is the back story on the girls, which might explain how 14 year old girls were hanging out at nightclubs by themselves, available to be exploited? The meat of this movie would always be the interviews with the women themselves, of course, but framing is critical to make something more universal.Despite these limitations, if you have an interest in The Runaways, the film still packs a punch.Compared to the slick, bigger budget Runaways docudrama (which was produced with Joan Jett's participation, and which reflects a mostly Jett-centric view, and an almost entirely Jett Currie focus), this is most certainly the deeper film.That said, the sad thing is that this documentary contains the outline of a GREAT docudrama: Young, naive girls with doe-eyed dreams taken in by a predatory Svengali, used, abused and discarded, with the most fulfilling part of the story how they ultimately dealt with the collapse of those early promises. There's plenty of sex, drugs, and rock and roll to spice it all up, of course. But I think that's the far less interesting story. Too bad that's the story that, for the most part, the big budget Runaways film chose to feature. Contrasting how the different members of the group dealt with the collapse of the Runaways offers a fantastic mix of success, failure, reinvention, the triumph of tenacity, and tragedy of being unable to reconcile childhood dreams with adult realities, specifically: Jackie Fox, the smartest one (and the one who would always have the most options available to her), drops out of the group first, goes off the grid, finds herself, goes back to college, Harvard law, and becomes a successful attorney.Vicki Blue, replacement bassist, leaves and becomes a successful video auteur.Joan Jett and Lita Ford: Prospects outside the music world might have been minimal, but they were driven and lucky, and ultimately found legitimate success in music on their own terms.Cheri Currie: Directionless but benign girl has her innocence and childhood evaporate as she becomes the sexed up jail-bait singer for The Runaways. She buys into the image and lifestyle, but finally quits in disgust, eventually finding a certain peace in a modest (figuratively) just outside of Hollywood existence.Sandy West: Fox had the brains, Blue the artistic and personal perspective, Jett and Ford had the musical talent and drive and Currie was scrappy enough to find her way. West just wanted to play drums. When that went south, her life trajectory was one of deepening decent into darkness: drug dealing, jail, etc. Her interview for this film reveals that nearly a quarter of century later, she still wondered "what happened?" and was waiting for that Runaways reunion that would never come. (West died a couple of years after this film was completed).If you've seen The Runaways movie, and you're interested in further back story, this documentary is a must. The Runaways is adequate entertainment. But there's a lot more heart in this film.

Edgeplay is a documentary. It is a film that "documents" the stories and life experiences of 6 women, who were once 6 young girls called The Runaways. What Edgeplay is not, is another in a seemingly endless string of rock biog's, in which aging rockers wax nostalgic about their first gold record, or their sexual escapades. It is not a typical, unimaginative E! channel collection of interviews with worshipful and obsequious narration, constantly reminding you of the legendary status of the subjects, just in case you didn't know. Apparently, over the years, with the mounds of praise heaped over recent entries like Metallica - Some Kind Of Monster and Ramones - End Of The Century, the art of documentary seems to have been reduced to :Point a DV camera at a musician in a chair and ask him questions, show scans of nostaligic photos, and point a DV camera at a talking head or critic and allow them to explain why the artist in study is brilliant. The problem with this tired approach is not only Deja Vu to the nth degree after seeing essentially the same film over and over, but at least to me, an exasperating need on the part of the film-makers to take you by the hand, and lead you like a child to the conclusion they would like you to draw, ala Oliver Stone.Victory Tischler-Blue seems to have seen as many of these as we have, and decided, luckily for us, that the easy way was the wrong way to tell this often dark and disturbing tale. Admittedly, a static camera and an interesting anecdote can be informative, even absorbing, if the story and the storyteller are good, but there comes a time when you start to ask yourself; "Is this it?" Is this all that can be done with the documentary medium? Directors normally utilize music as a tool to influence mood in their films, and in the best of examples, it's a tried and true approach. However in Edgeplay, that role is largely taken over by the camera. When Cherrie Currie, begins to relate a particularly sordid tale, the film begins to go faded and jumpy, not unlike the deadly video featured in Hideo Nakata's "Ringu" or the dream sequence in Friedken's "The Exorcist". A short, sudden jumble of nightmarish images and quick edits creates a palpable sense of unease - a sense that the film is trying to tell us something more - sending out a message in a bottle - a visual metaphor that parallels the story as surely and effectively as the pulsing ostinato in "Jaws". There's a persistent sense of haunting running through some of the scenes that I found impossible to shake-off for hours after I'd seen it.A good deal of the darkness in Edgeplay derives from the evident bitterness of Cherrie Currie and Sandy West, the two members who arguably suffered the most from their experiences in the band, and seem unable to get past it, continuing to hold grudges (some certainly understandable), and harbor feelings of loss and betrayal almost 30 years later. The final segment of the film focuses on drummer Sandy, who takes you on a very rough journey through her post-Runaways life, in a very short scene, that nonetheless seems to go on forever. The director's camera is merciless in starkly lit close-up, every haggard line in a face that has seen too much, speaks more loudly than any narration or musical cue ever could. Tischler-blue puts us into a stare-down with West that most of us will lose. The pain and regret in her clear eyes is unforgettable. But there is hope as well. For every tragic heroine and/or victim in Edgeplay, there is also a survivor. There is the unflappable Lita Ford, who not only went on to become the rock star she wanted to be, but seems to remain largely unperturbed by her memories of her time in the band. There is Jackie Fox (Fuchs) who, rather than wallow in self-pity from her negative experience in the music business, ended-up an entertainment lawyer, representing artists and musicians. If that isn't sweet revenge, I don't know what is. And then of course there's Vicki Blue, Director of the film, who after leaving the band, decided to follow her muse into film-making. The hope lies in the sureness of the lessons learned, by Ms. Tischler-Blue, Ms. Fuchs and Ms. Ford that refusal to remain a victim, can render the monsters of our youth toothless.It would have been nice to have heard from Joan Jett, who doesn't appear in the film except for archival footage, yet her presence, oddly enough is felt just the same. What makes Edgeplay such a disturbing and yet satisfying experience, is it's utter refusal to tell you how you should be feeling about anything. It very smartly assumes you can decide for yourself who the heroes and villains are, and it does so in such a unique and refreshingly cinematic way, that it makes most of the rock biographies on the video shelf seem like cheap, generic DVD extras in comparison. Edgeplay can be dark and ominous, exciting and hilariously funny, edgy yet thoughtful, but it is never pedestrian, and never boring. It is a kind-of aerial photograph of the lives of 6 very talented, very complex women, taken from such a height, that we can see where there various paths all went, in a way that is shockingly simple - and yet, isn't hindsight always?