Few movies that I have seen really affect me on a visceral, emotional level. Even when I've been sucked into the plot within the film's universe of discourse, my conscious mind is still analyzing each individual element of the scene being presented. SLC Punk was by no means the most powerful film I've seen, and there are a number of problems with its execution that keep it from entirely hitting it's mark. There is, however, one scene in particular that grabbed my gut and twisted it with all of the emotion the film's authors intended.

Before you can watch the video clip on the next page, I should set the stage. To explain the title, the film takes place in 1985 and centers around the punk scene in Salt Lake City (ie. SLC). The entire film is told from the perspective of Stevo (Matthew Lillard), the self-proclaimed center of the punk "tribe" in SLC. His left-hand man is "Heroine" Bob (Michael A. Goorjian) who earned his nickname due to his revulsion to needles and drugs.

Through the device of the voice-over, writer/director James Merendino weaves the entire film through a series of flashbacks embedded within flashbacks. On the director's commentary track on the DVD, Merendino likened the style to exploring a web site by clicking on multiple links as they are referenced within the narrative to help explain the story as it unfolds. It is an extremely interesting technique which helps to underscore the punk concept of anarchy by often leaving the audience wondering where it all leads.

"We did what we could to fuck things up, but the system was strong and they were many and we were few. Bob and the rest of us had made an oath to do absolutely nothing. We were going to waste our educated minds. We had no other way of fighting. As I said, there just weren't enough of us." - Stevo

What really tells the viewer that Meredino was a punk (in addition to the incredibly credible soundtrack) is his complete disregard for stereotypes. Not only does he not present punks as Hollywood always does, he doesn't even take on the common misconceptions of punks in order to set them right. In fact, he populates his film with people who happen to be punks, mods, or whatever. This complete apathy for labels is contrasted entirely with Stevo's primary grudge: posers, people who pretend to be who they aren't primarily for effect.

NOTE: The video clip on the next page may be a spoiler. If you want to watch the film, I suggest you do so before reading further. If, however, you have no intention of seeing the film I urge you to watch this clip as I think that it easily stands alone.

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