• Home
  • Longform
    • Defanging the Unthinkable
      more
      View more

      Defanging the Unthinkable

      1 year ago
    • A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye
      more
      View more

      A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye

      1 year ago
    • The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"
      more
      View more

      The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"

      1 year ago
    • The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"
      more
      View more

      The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"

      1 year ago
  • Interviews
    • A New Way of Telling Love Stories
      more
      View more

      A New Way of Telling Love Stories

      1 year ago
    • Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"
      more
      View more

      Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"

      1 year ago
    • Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast
      more
      View more

      Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast

      1 year ago
    • The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"
      more
      View more

      The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"

      2 years ago
  • Critic-At-Large
    • Now Playing: "From Nowhere"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "From Nowhere"

      1 year ago
    • Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"

      1 year ago
    • Now Playing: "War on Everyone"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "War on Everyone"

      1 year ago
    • Now Playing: "The Salesman"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "The Salesman"

      1 year ago
  • Podcast
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"

      1 year ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"

      1 year ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"

      1 year ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"

      1 year ago
Movie Mezzanine
  • Home
  • Longform
    • Defanging the Unthinkable
      more
      View more

      Defanging the Unthinkable

      1 year ago
    • A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye
      more
      View more

      A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye

      1 year ago
    • The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"
      more
      View more

      The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"

      1 year ago
    • The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"
      more
      View more

      The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"

      1 year ago
  • Interviews
    • A New Way of Telling Love Stories
      more
      View more

      A New Way of Telling Love Stories

      1 year ago
    • Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"
      more
      View more

      Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"

      1 year ago
    • Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast
      more
      View more

      Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast

      1 year ago
    • The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"
      more
      View more

      The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"

      2 years ago
  • Critic-At-Large
    • Now Playing: "From Nowhere"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "From Nowhere"

      1 year ago
    • Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"

      1 year ago
    • Now Playing: "War on Everyone"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "War on Everyone"

      1 year ago
    • Now Playing: "The Salesman"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "The Salesman"

      1 year ago
  • Podcast
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"

      1 year ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"

      1 year ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"

      1 year ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"

      1 year ago
  • Home
  • Longform
    • Defanging the Unthinkable
      more
      View more

      Defanging the Unthinkable

      1 year ago
    • A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye
      more
      View more

      A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye

      1 year ago
    • The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"
      more
      View more

      The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"

      1 year ago
    • The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"
      more
      View more

      The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"

      1 year ago
  • Interviews
    • A New Way of Telling Love Stories
      more
      View more

      A New Way of Telling Love Stories

      1 year ago
    • Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"
      more
      View more

      Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"

      1 year ago
    • Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast
      more
      View more

      Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast

      1 year ago
    • The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"
      more
      View more

      The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"

      2 years ago
  • Critic-At-Large
    • Now Playing: "From Nowhere"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "From Nowhere"

      1 year ago
    • Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"

      1 year ago
    • Now Playing: "War on Everyone"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "War on Everyone"

      1 year ago
    • Now Playing: "The Salesman"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "The Salesman"

      1 year ago
  • Podcast
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"

      1 year ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"

      1 year ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"

      1 year ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"

      1 year ago
Shelf Life: ‘School of Rock’
  • Home Video

Shelf Life: ‘School of Rock’

  • Jake Cole by Jake Cole
  • May 25, 2013
  • 0
  • 1333

School of Rock is a film that sounds, on paper, like a wafer-thin lark that fits snugly within the condescending subgenre of inspiring teacher films. However, depicted through Richard Linklater’s humanistic treatment of youth the film is something that’s equally irreverent and sincere. Unconcerned with patronizing lessons of uniting disparate groups, School of Rock instead attunes itself to the minute (if comically exaggerated) observations of that commonality slowly blossoming. Though it climaxes with a rousing performance, School of Rock works best when honing in on the face of a child brightening to new, freer possibilities afforded to them, or in the dawning sense of maturity slowly stirring in a buffoon.

Critically, Linklater’s film reverses the usual dynamic of these movies. Instead of a well-educated, impassioned educator coming to a run-down, all-but-abandoned school of impoverished and underserved kids, the students here attend a private-school, already set on a path to college by the fifth grade. The teacher, meanwhile, is a disheveled loser who cons his way into substitute teaching for a quick payday. The resulting arc thus does not concern a teacher trying to break through to the indifferent students, but a man child who must learn responsibility even as he instructs kids not to live lives preplanned by their parents.

Jack Black is expectedly over-the-top as Dewey, but his work is always genuine. Dewey’s plan to turn his musically gifted students into a rock band (to back his antics) allows Black to show off the enthusiastic side of the music snob seen in High Fidelity. Dewey hands out copies of Hendrix’s Axis: Bold as Love and Yes’ Fragile not to show off his classic rock bona fides but to eagerly spread the music he loves to others. Black never condescends to his young co-stars; the closest thing to one of those patronizing lines used to speak to kids on their level (think “Shakespeare was the original rapper!”) consists of comparing a cello to an electric bass with a groanworthy pun.

Dewey, far less intellectual or reflective than Linklater’s other Gen X characters, nevertheless fits in with the director’s previous slacker creations. Made back in 2003, School of Rock hides a clear understanding of the difference between Generation X and its millennial successors within its good-natured, ostensibly fluffy entertainment. The peripatetic musing of Linklater’s twenty-/thirtysomethings has been replaced by tensomethings who are already planning for college and a career.

Dewey’s desire to teach his students about rock thus becomes a subconscious wish to give Gen Y the same freedom he enjoys. That this freedom also comes with insecurity and the possibility of stagnation underscores Dewey’s naïveté, but the farther time gets away from School of Rock, the more energizing and inspiring its optimistic view of a grown man finding a purpose and kids rejecting their predestined ones becomes.

Tags
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Related posts

  • JakeCole
  •  / 
  • ty-landis
0
Warner Archive Instant Picks (10/25/13—10/31/13)

Warner Archive Instant Picks (10/25/13—10/31/13)

4 years ago
  • JakeCole
0
Warner Archive Instant Picks (10/18/13—10/24/13)

Warner Archive Instant Picks (10/18/13—10/24/13)

5 years ago
  • JakeCole
  •  / 
  • ty-landis
0
Warner Archive Instants Picks of the Week (10/11/13—10/17/13)

Warner Archive Instants Picks of the Week (10/11/13—10/17/13)

5 years ago
  • Steven Flores

    For me, this was a rare film that I was able to enjoy with not just my parents but also my younger siblings including my youngest sister who just loved this film. Not only was it funny and exciting but also very accessible as I think it’s one of Richard Linklater’s finest films.

    • Sam Fragoso

      Crazy accessible film, and works for just about everyone I’ve seen it with.

About Us

Movie Mezzanine is an online publication dedicated to covering the medium that connects us all, one film at a time. With writers stationed around the globe, we offer a uniquely diverse perspective on cinema, both old and new. To learn more about us, go here.

Spotlight

Putting the Geek to the Plow

630.207.1528

US/CA

© 2016 Movie Mezzanine. All rights reserved. http://moviemezzanine.com