Hard Core Logo is a 1996 Canadian music mockumentary film directed by Bruce McDonald, adapted by Noel S. Baker from the novel of the same name by Michael Turner.
The film illustrates the self-destruction of punk rock, documenting a once-popular band, the titular Hard Core Logo, comprising lead singer Joe Dick (Hugh Dillon), fame-tempted guitarist Billy Tallent (Callum Keith Rennie), schizophrenic bass player John Oxenberger (John Pyper-Ferguson), and drummer Pipefitter (Bernie Coulson).
In a 2001 poll of 200 industry voters, performed by Playback, Hard Core Logo was named the fourth best Canadian film of the last 15 years.
Frontman Joe Dick gets the band back together, ostensibly for an anti-gun benefit after hearing Canadian punk legend and personal mentor Bucky Haight, has been shot.
Guitarist Billy Tallent finds out that by going on tour he loses his position in mainstream American rock band Jenifur and with that his one shot at stardom.
McDonald grew up in the Vancouver punk rock scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s and was drawn to Michael Turner's book about aging musicians.
Lyrics by Michael Turner and music by Hugh Dillon and Swamp Baby, except where noted: Hard Core Logo screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
Quentin Tarantino saw Logo at a film festival and liked it so much that he bought the U.S. distribution rights under his Rolling Thunder label and even toyed with casting Dillon in Jackie Brown.
[9] John Griffin, in his review for the Montreal Gazette, called it "a masterful exercise in edgy virtuoso film craft, subversive propaganda and exhilarating entertainment".
[10] In his review for the Toronto Star, Peter Goddard praised Noel Baker's screenplay for providing "some of the funniest and deftest writing Canadian moviemaking has heard in years but it can't hide the bitter-sweetness just below the surface".
[11] Liam Lacey in his review for The Globe and Mail wrote: "Though the jumpy, parodic, disruptive style suits rock music, the same techniques prevent viewers from investing deeply in the characters and the story.
[13] In his review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Peter Stack wrote: "Director Bruce McDonald (Dance Me Outside) has turned out a tight, fascinating on-the-road rock movie, a delicious study in mean-spiritedness as well as the gut imperatives that make punk music the unsettling, hostile experience it is".
[14] Stephen Holden, in his review for The New York Times felt that "unlike Spinal Tap, which cast a comically jaundiced eye on every nuance of the heavy-metal life style, this clever mock documentary ... blends satire and sentiment in a way that keeps you emotionally off balance".
McDonald asked Daniel MacIvor to write a My Dinner with Andre-style screenplay that would be a sequel to Hard Core Logo, with Hugh Dillon and Callum Keith Rennie playing the roles, but scheduling (among other reasons) kept it from moving forward.