Movie Review: Rock School
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that the movie's teacher,
Paul
Green, and some of his teenaged students use frequent curse
words (including various forms of the f-word). While most of
the students and their parents here commend Green's approach,
one former student notes that the criticisms and jokes at his
expense are harsh. One young student suffers from a bone
disorder, appearing on stage post-surgery, playing his guitar
while seated.
Families who see this movie can discuss Green's very lively, alternately funny and severe methods of instruction. Is learning harder or do you feel more motivated when a teacher yells at you? How are you helped by supportive parents and friends when you learn a difficult skill?
Common Sense Media Review
A documentary about school doesn't sound like much fun. But
Don
Argott's ROCK SCHOOL is by turns boisterous, charming, and
surprising. Focused on founder and teacher of the school, the
movie shows Green to be bigheaded and foul-mouthed, the ideal
star of his own show.
"My ego," Green pronounces, "is as big as the whole universe. I invented something so I could be the best at it." His invention, launched in 1998, is the Paul Green School of Rock Music, where he teaches students to play serious rock, from Black Sabbath to Carlos Santana to Frank Zappa (the film ends when the students perform at an international Zappa festival in Bad Doberon, East Germany, on stage with former Zappa vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock).
The film includes lively interviews with Green's students and their parents -- including Quaker Madi Diaz-Svalgard, nine-year-old twins Asa and Tucker Collins (whose mother is a self-admitted wannabe rock star who helps them get ready for performances by limiting the emblems they might wear: Mohawk okay, but no "666" temporary tattoos), and guitar prodigy C.J. Tywoniak, who offers up a terrific version of "Black Magic Woman." One former student, Will, describes his own experiences with Green, who invited him to be a student even though he calls Will "a piss-poor musician." Articulate and self-aware, Will is also clinically depressed; a Philadelphia Inquirer article calls him "the sad Eyore of rock school," a line that understandably annoys Will and inspires Green to make more jokes at his expense.
For all his obnoxiousness, Green is an effective instructor for many of his students. He is also always performing -- for Argott's camera, for his students and their parents, for himself. This makes him a fascinating character, a mix of arrogance and insecurity, generosity and narcissism. And in the end, he reveals himself to be a more compassionate character than you might think, based on his aggressive teaching style.
Families who like this movie will also like School of Rock , in which Jack Black plays an unorthodox rock music teacher, or the documentaries Mad Hot Ballroom and Spellbound .
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
