American Hardcore (2006) poster
2006 · documentary · music

American Hardcore

Directed by Paul Rachman1h 40m2006
ElsewhereIMDb7.34kRT72%Metacritic69
  • sombre
  • kinetic
  • intense
Movie DNA

Sombre, breathless, measured documentary / music, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, intimate, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.

Our read · American Hardcore (2006) reads as a sombre, breathless, grounded documentary · music entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of American Hardcore

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want raw live footage and oral history of early US hardcore punk.

ends bittersweetit stays with yousteady all the waygrips by minute 5attention 3/5earns its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-updrug use

Skip it tonightYou hate aggressive music or constant swearing.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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