Pretenders

Saturday, September 19: This screening will be presented with open captions.

Tough, stylish, and effortlessly cool, Chrissie Hynde is the real thing. Surveying her five decades of work with the Pretenders, you’d think she came out of the gate a rock star. The truth is more complicated — and more fascinating. Helmed by documentarian Joss Crowley (the Shania Twain biography Not Just a Girl), Pretenders chronicles the emergence, prominence, and evolution of one of music’s most singular icons.

Born into a middle-class postwar family in Akron, Ohio, Hynde was a rebellious youth with a taste for the unconventional. Her love of rock ’n’ roll arrived in tandem with a predilection for drugs and biker gangs, the latter of which would put her in harm’s way and a move to London. There she worked odd jobs, wrote criticism, befriended musicians, and stayed on the cusp of realizing her potential for years before finally assembling the Pretenders’ original lineup. The band found success almost instantly, but it would not be long before tragedy struck, leading Hynde to adapt her approach to life and art.

Aside from the interviews with Hynde that provide the film with its structure — and the stories behind hits like “Brass in Pocket” and “Back on the Chain Gang” — Crowley’s in-depth profile boasts a spectacular collage of archival material, featuring Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Viv Albertine, Nick Lowe, and Johnny Marr, plus thrilling performance footage. With her mixture of fearlessness and craftsmanship, attitude and vulnerability, Hynde has redefined rock longevity. Pretenders is a fitting testament to her ongoing legacy. 

Content advisory: strobe lighting, coarse language, mature themes