In 1976, punk rock star Danny Brooklyn (Nic D’Avirro) founded the legendary Brooklyn. Thanks to a massive ego, temper, and drug problem, Danny is thrown out of the band that bears his name. Forty-five years later, Brooklyn (the band) will be inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame, and Danny refuses to sit back in his senior center without a chance to reclaim his glory.
In Joshua Akin’s Jurassic Punk, the washed-up rocker’s long-suffering daughter Sam (Taylor Scorse) is forced by blood to take care of him. After being booted for punching a resident at the center, Danny talks Sam into taking him to the Hall of Fame ceremony for a bit of closure. Along the way, Danny gets into mischief, and Sam has to clean it up in a massive parent/child role reversal.
“…a massive ego, temper, and drug problem, Danny is thrown out of the band that bears his name.”
Jurassic Punk is director Akin’s USC graduate film project, and he shows a masterful command of tone and pacing while getting great performances from his actors. Shot mostly at night, he maintains that dark, grunge feeling with hints of neon here and there. For a short, it’s pretty ambitious moving from one location to the next. We open at the senior center, move to a gas station for some enormous ball-busting mischief, then to a concert stage. And we end at a diner.
In this comedy, the leads d’Avirro and Scorse are great together. They never overplay the comedy, which makes their final moments feel real. Jurassic Punk is a great film with heart about a father who put chasing his dreams above his family.
"…a great film with heart..."
