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Rock School Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: R (for language) Theater release: August 14, 2009 by Newmarket Films Directed by: Don Argott Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes Cast: Asa (Herself), C.J. (Himself), Paul Green (Himself), Madi (Herself), Tucker (Himself), Will (Himself) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Here's the setup: an earnest and eccentric, but perhaps commercially unviable, rocker takes it upon himself to school the next generation of wannabe musicians in the art of gettin' the Led out. Sound familiar? Director Richard Linklater's popular 2003 film, School of Rock, featured Jack Black as a wild-eyed music aficionado who manages to inspire musical greatness in a bunch of school kids. Now Rock School, a documentary from first timer Don Argott, follows Paul Green—the self proclaimed "überlord" of the Philadelphia-based Paul Green School of Rock Music (and possible inspiration for School of Rock)—through a year of classes at his after-school program for 9-to-17-year-olds.

Paul Green and students on stage at a performance

Green's program offers private lessons on a variety of instruments and then groups the students together based on skill level for jam sessions. Headmaster Green, an accomplished guitarist in his own right, says he wouldn't want to be a rock star now. He'd rather be one in back in the '70s, and his choice of material for the students bears this out. Recitals come in the form of live shows featuring music from the likes of Led Zeppelin, Carlos Santana, and Black Sabbath. The most advanced of the groups, the All Stars, performs prog-rock pioneer Frank Zappa's repertoire and tours globally. And at the center of it all is Green, who alternately serves as teacher, bully, manager, best friend, and worst enemy.

Whereas School of Rock is a feel-good take on the tension between reveling in the glories of anti-establishment rock 'n' roll and becoming part of the establishment (i.e., growing up), Rock School ratchets those tensions up to eleven with displays of brilliance, enthusiasm, melancholy, and frailty—all juxtaposed against and influenced by Green's often unsettling, usually abusive teaching style. He openly mocks one student's Quaker faith. He makes fun of another's clinical depression and suicidal tendencies. He threatens the students with a recitation of the story of how he lost his virginity if they don't shape up. If they don't nail their pieces well enough to be featured in one of the school's shows, Green warns them that he'll tell the offended parents that their kids are lazy and smoke pot. In between such threats there's lots of profanity-laced yelling and stomping around. Green's a bona fide jerk and the kids, for better or for worse, love him.

12-year-old C.J., a guitar whiz, gets instruction from Green

Among those kids is 12-year-old C.J., a sweet-spirited musical prodigy whose guitar skills inspire those around him to bow down and worship, sometimes quite literally. Two nine-year-old twins, Asa and Tucker, provide the most comic relief as mini would-be rockers. Their mom, an apparent fan of '70s rock herself, extols the virtues of rock school as something that brings families together. She gladly spikes her son's hair into a mohawk and turns her daughter into a mini blond Ozzy Osbourne, complete with black cross on her forehead, for a Black Sabbath tribute show—though she does draw the line at one point: "No, you cannot have a pentagram on your forehead."

Madi, the Quaker from Lancaster County who is frequently mocked, butts heads with Green frequently but keeps coming back and getting better at her craft. Her friends, the Friendly Gangstas, a rap outfit that puts Quaker hymns to hip-hop beats, make a brief and hilarious appearance. And then there's Will, a 16-year-old misfit who has a one-armed mother and frequently reminds people of his three suicide attempts while waxing philosophical about life. He says if it weren't for the School of Rock Music he'd probably be dead. Will is, in Green's words, a "piss poor" musician, but it's telling that, knowing this, Green sought out and invited Will to come to rock school anyway. Hovering just below the maniacal surface of Green's persona, he really cares about these kids, even if his methods of motivating them are questionable, to say the least.

Twins Asa and Tucker are Ozzy wannabes

It's Will who seems to hit the nail on the head when he diagnoses Green's "Peter Pan" complex. "It's a lovable quirk that he's mentally disturbed," Will says. And despite being a self-proclaimed great teacher, it's notable that you never see Green actually providing a music lesson. He's more the tyrant type and I suspect that his staff plays a vital role in actually keeping the School of Rock rockin'. I would have liked to see more of them in action.

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