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“Breaking A Monster” chronicles the break-out year of the band UNLOCKING THE TRUTH, following 13-year-old members Alec Atkins, Malcolm Brickhouse and Jarad Dawkins as they first encounter stardom and the music industry, transcending childhood to become the rock stars they always dreamed of being.
Luke Meyer’s entertaining but by-the-numbers “rockumentary” “Breaking the Monster,” follows the trajectory of three talented 13-year-old black boys from Brooklyn, who defy their hip-hop-rooted culture by embracing metal music and rocking their way to relative stardom. Instead of examining the ramifications of such a young, resolute trio of performers breaking monstrous racial and ageist stereotypes, Meyer adopts a different approach, simply following Alec, Malcolm and Jarad through their first year of ascension to nationwide popularity. It proves engrossing, and the subjects are charming, but, like the music they perform, “Breaking the Monster” evaporates from your mind as soon as you press “stop.”
The kids are talented well beyond their years; it’s startling to see them play songs influenced by decades of punk rock and metal – a reservoir that their young minds managed to absorb, filter and shape into a sound of their own. It may not be the most original or memorable sound – Malcolm himself admits that his lyrics and vocals need work – but there’s no denying the skill. As the band goes through its ups and downs – from practicing in a basement to appearing on “The Colbert Report” after signing a five-album, $1.8 million deal – the trio stays grounded and focused, no small feat for any band. The fact that those kids managed to do it against all odds – playing punk rock and painting their nails black didn’t exactly sit well among their peers, in a neighborhood “known more for hip-hop than heavy metal” – makes their success that much more admirable.
The kids are thoughtful and charming, but they also avoid the aged-too-fast “Dakota Fanning” syndrome, remaining, you know, KIDS at heart: goofy, lounging on their Spider-Man sheets, playing GTA and watching Naruto cartoons. The most endearing parts of the doc focus on Malcolm, Alec and Jarad and their everyday lives: practicing in the studio, skateboarding, exchanging wisecracks and sharing their thoughts on camera. In one standout scene at the record label offices, the boys are about to sign a major deal, but their attention is on an iPhone video game – that naivety is disarming, a stark juxtaposition to the adults around them, the titular monsters, hungry to exploit their fresh talent.
The boys do stand their ground when it comes to maintaining their artistic integrity: they argue over their logo design, refusing to seem juvenile (“Not the cartoon… We want to be taken seriously”); Malcolm continuously perfects his “child-like” vocals in fear of alienating their core audience; during a branding meeting, Malcolm gets frustrated at the shallowness of it all, while Jarad and Alec become “easily distracted.” “I’m too young for responsibility,” Malcolm says at one point, which makes him that much more mature in an industry of arrested development. The boys’ nonchalant response to negative criticism, unaffected by years of dependence on media reaction, is particularly poignant. In the words of their meditating manager Alan Sacks: “They’re relating to everything in L.A. because of ‘Grand Theft Auto.’”
There is a moment in the doc, where Alan reads an aggressive comment on a message board, basically stating that the kids’ popularity is an “act of liberalism,” their quick rise to fame based solely on the uniqueness of their being black metalheads. “I’m not stupid, Alan,” Malcolm replies. “That’s exactly what happened. And I don’t care.” At a later point, he says: “They don’t know me. They know the kid with the afro. They don’t know Malcolm Brickhouse.” The doc doesn’t reveal much about the enigmatic little guy either, and neither does it delve any deeper into the nuance and depth that aforementioned scene hinted at. In general, Meyer’s film doesn’t transcend the biography format – talking heads, shaky cam, skimming the surface – but its protagonists pull it through. We may not get a lot of socio-political context, or dig too deep into what drives the protagonists, but it’s never less than entertaining to observe them breaking the monster that is pop music these days.
Available on Digital Download, VOD & DVD October 11th
