Really interesting documentary on the Chinese punk music scene. I am not sure what I had expected. It never had occurred to me that such a thing existed until I saw this movie. The music was great and surprisingly original. A couple of these bands I think would have appeal outside of China. I can't wait until that happens. Then I can say 'oh yeah I saw those guys in a documentary like 10 years ago'. The movie was funny, well edited, and full of characters from the bands and punk scene. I got a real feeling for what it would be like at the club D-22. What's more punk rock than the danger of going to jail for your music?
6 Reviews
A fascinating glimpse of a fresh scene
keidem4-829-44166720 February 2011
There really isn't a better way to wind down after a very long Friday, at least if you're me, then with a documentary about Chinese punk music. Yes, really.
I went into Shaun Jefford's "Beijing Punk" at the 2011 Macon Film Festival expecting a blast of loud, fast fun, and that's exactly what it delivers, along with a little about to think about along the way. For a little background, Jefford explains at the outset that he took his camera to the Chinese capital in the year of the Olympics looking for an interesting story behind the big one, and finds his centered around the punk club D-22.
He loses a little focus in the beginning with kids who certainly look like punks, but only give him quizzical looks when he asks if they like punk music. Before it slips too far into mockery, though, he finds his groove by wisely focusing on three bands and their stories.
The first, and by far the most interesting (and often frightening) is Misandao, a Chinese skinhead band (let that sink in for a second before continuing), and its frontman Lei Jun. Rather than trying to explain just what a Chinese skinhead would be angry about, Jefford just lets Lei Jun and his bandmates show it as they swig cough syrup by the bottle and eventually talk about Hitler in chillingly neutral terms.
Less scary but more entertaining are Demerit and Hedgehog. The fun in learning about these two young bands is in seeing how the language of punk music is universal and how much it gets filtered through the unique state of trying to express it in a communist state.
The kids of Demerit delight in explaining that they don't have jobs because "working" in China means putting in 12-hour days, and as they show off their squalid living conditions and declare their absolutely filthy bathroom "punk," it's hard to argue with them. The trio Hedgehog is the most musically entertaining of the three groups (but then, I've always been a bit of a shoegazer when it comes to indie rock, and they are too), and it's a hoot to hear the two male members explain the appeal of having a female drummer (who, as almost all female drummers do , kicks all kinds of ass).
All in all, it's an interesting look at a scene that's still fresh and on the rise, and a world well worth visiting for an hour or so.
Keith Demko http://reelfanatic.blogspot.com
I went into Shaun Jefford's "Beijing Punk" at the 2011 Macon Film Festival expecting a blast of loud, fast fun, and that's exactly what it delivers, along with a little about to think about along the way. For a little background, Jefford explains at the outset that he took his camera to the Chinese capital in the year of the Olympics looking for an interesting story behind the big one, and finds his centered around the punk club D-22.
He loses a little focus in the beginning with kids who certainly look like punks, but only give him quizzical looks when he asks if they like punk music. Before it slips too far into mockery, though, he finds his groove by wisely focusing on three bands and their stories.
The first, and by far the most interesting (and often frightening) is Misandao, a Chinese skinhead band (let that sink in for a second before continuing), and its frontman Lei Jun. Rather than trying to explain just what a Chinese skinhead would be angry about, Jefford just lets Lei Jun and his bandmates show it as they swig cough syrup by the bottle and eventually talk about Hitler in chillingly neutral terms.
Less scary but more entertaining are Demerit and Hedgehog. The fun in learning about these two young bands is in seeing how the language of punk music is universal and how much it gets filtered through the unique state of trying to express it in a communist state.
The kids of Demerit delight in explaining that they don't have jobs because "working" in China means putting in 12-hour days, and as they show off their squalid living conditions and declare their absolutely filthy bathroom "punk," it's hard to argue with them. The trio Hedgehog is the most musically entertaining of the three groups (but then, I've always been a bit of a shoegazer when it comes to indie rock, and they are too), and it's a hoot to hear the two male members explain the appeal of having a female drummer (who, as almost all female drummers do , kicks all kinds of ass).
All in all, it's an interesting look at a scene that's still fresh and on the rise, and a world well worth visiting for an hour or so.
Keith Demko http://reelfanatic.blogspot.com
Much Respect
truaxjames-119 June 2009
I went away from watching Beijing Punk with a thorough respect for China's punk scene, which wasn't what I expected when I came across the title. Actually, I didn't know what to expect at all, but what better grounds to adopt a punk rock philosophy than growing up under a Communist rule? The bands there, punk bands, are original, and, well, great. This was just a refreshing documentary on a punk scene... I sense the makings of a classic underground, cult, or even mainstream film here. Anyway, I'm thinking back to the first Decline of Western Civilization documentary, going, this competes. Of course, the footage and sound is better, its years later, but one has more of a respect level for these true to life characters, based on their circumstances for adopting the punk rock philosophy, if there is one.
Punk Great
laliberteoulamort0071 March 2010
This is not a documentary for everyone and many people will find a lot in it not real, and the reason is that this is a side of China no one knows about. So if you are under 16 you should not watch it and go back to school and study about China, it will only make your viewing pleasure better afterward. So Why am i so excited by it then: For the ones that want to see and listen to good music, provocative dialogs against the regime, sex, skinheads getting high, loads of excitement, swearing, beer drinking, savagery, friendships and lets not forget that all of this in one of the less free country's in the world. It is brutal and that what makes it one of the best docs ever made, because more than just a bunch of kids acting up and playing music, this film is really a cry for freedom.
Beijing Punk is the most fascinating movement in punk rock history and this movie shows you why.
kentbernhard8 April 2010
Punk was always a labor movement, a voice of the under privileged and unheard fringe groups in both American and English society. The great irony was that most of the punk movement was an intellectual one, and those who gravitated you the message were often middle class if not wealthy. The truth was that "Sex Pistols" were manufactured, the "Ramons" while sticking rigidly to their roots, were still trying to make a buck, and Strummer had to renounce his affluent upbringing to become a voice of the working class hero.
Many of these bands where strongly political, many spoke from a voice of unrest, all of them had something to say about the Government, mostly critical. These are the roots of punk. But, what happens when those values take root in a neo-Communist world? This is the story of "Beijing Punk", a raw and skillfully made documentary that gives you a first hand look at some of Beijing's biggest punk bands and the uncomfortable role they play with the government of China. These aren't bands looking to start a violent uprising, or over turn the fascist "Reaganites". These are bands who want to play music, who struggle to live a dream in honest poverty rather than securing a job, which would likely place them in 10 to 12 hour work days, with no time to play or practice what they love. These are bands who have embraced all that is true about punk rock, it's history and it's politics, while growing up and living in a country that maintained strong control over it's people their entire lives. Can China and Punk Rock co-exist in a Communist society? Can a band lash out at a government that needs to approve its lyrics? This documentary shows you the delicate walk between true punk rockers and the controlled environment they have grown up in.
I highly recommend this documentary to all the "punks" out there who think they know what the movement is about. Punk in China will give honest perspective to everything you thought you knew. I recommend this documentary to every music lover who truly sees music as a form of expression. Finally, I recommend this documentary to everyone curious about the future of the one country fast become the next super-power, for China itself is redefining the world, just as punk is helping to redefine China.
Many of these bands where strongly political, many spoke from a voice of unrest, all of them had something to say about the Government, mostly critical. These are the roots of punk. But, what happens when those values take root in a neo-Communist world? This is the story of "Beijing Punk", a raw and skillfully made documentary that gives you a first hand look at some of Beijing's biggest punk bands and the uncomfortable role they play with the government of China. These aren't bands looking to start a violent uprising, or over turn the fascist "Reaganites". These are bands who want to play music, who struggle to live a dream in honest poverty rather than securing a job, which would likely place them in 10 to 12 hour work days, with no time to play or practice what they love. These are bands who have embraced all that is true about punk rock, it's history and it's politics, while growing up and living in a country that maintained strong control over it's people their entire lives. Can China and Punk Rock co-exist in a Communist society? Can a band lash out at a government that needs to approve its lyrics? This documentary shows you the delicate walk between true punk rockers and the controlled environment they have grown up in.
I highly recommend this documentary to all the "punks" out there who think they know what the movement is about. Punk in China will give honest perspective to everything you thought you knew. I recommend this documentary to every music lover who truly sees music as a form of expression. Finally, I recommend this documentary to everyone curious about the future of the one country fast become the next super-power, for China itself is redefining the world, just as punk is helping to redefine China.
"Beijing Punk"
cambridgefilmfest8 October 2010
Chinese punks – who knew? Yet thanks to this documentary by Australian filmmaker Shaun Jefford, we get a glimpse into their nascent underground scene, on the eve of Beijing's 2008 Olympics.
Filmed with appropriate graininess and supplemented with bootleg gig footage, Jefford has found a diverse and fascinating movement. Primarily exploring the lives of two bands, MiSanDao (self-proclaimed "Chinese skinheads") and Demerit, the difficulties they face in trying to do what they love are highlighted. The government censor lyrics (stymieing album launches), the bands give up on money (most jobs requiring twelve-hour-days), and their families are unwilling to support them. Yet with the nightclub D-22 as their base, punk is what they do.
More searching questions might have been asked. The appropriation of the "skinhead" tag by MiSanDao is not addressed until towards the end of the film (to reassure the audience that the band are not neo-Nazis, after they are shown playing a German skinhead festival!) The cultural analysis of Michael Pettis, the American founder of D-22, is the only critical voice throughout the film (albeit learned) and language also seems to have been a barrier.
But the music provides its own justification and thankfully Jefford has made it the main event. This is China as never before seen – you'll just be grateful for a look inside. Spike, Demerit's singer, proudly claims "we live punk ... we are punk", and arguably rebellious punk-rock has never been more needed than in modern China. You'll think about music in a new light.
Cambridge Film Festival Daily
Filmed with appropriate graininess and supplemented with bootleg gig footage, Jefford has found a diverse and fascinating movement. Primarily exploring the lives of two bands, MiSanDao (self-proclaimed "Chinese skinheads") and Demerit, the difficulties they face in trying to do what they love are highlighted. The government censor lyrics (stymieing album launches), the bands give up on money (most jobs requiring twelve-hour-days), and their families are unwilling to support them. Yet with the nightclub D-22 as their base, punk is what they do.
More searching questions might have been asked. The appropriation of the "skinhead" tag by MiSanDao is not addressed until towards the end of the film (to reassure the audience that the band are not neo-Nazis, after they are shown playing a German skinhead festival!) The cultural analysis of Michael Pettis, the American founder of D-22, is the only critical voice throughout the film (albeit learned) and language also seems to have been a barrier.
But the music provides its own justification and thankfully Jefford has made it the main event. This is China as never before seen – you'll just be grateful for a look inside. Spike, Demerit's singer, proudly claims "we live punk ... we are punk", and arguably rebellious punk-rock has never been more needed than in modern China. You'll think about music in a new light.
Cambridge Film Festival Daily
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