What We Do Is Secret
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Movie Reviews of What We Do Is Secret
Movie Review: Good job Shane West
Summary: 5 Stars
Shane West has Darby down pat...movie is good. sometimes cheesy and low budget but thats cool,it's still a good flick. It's about the Germs, come on, they rocked in the day.Movie Review: The Greatness
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was awesome. Finally a movie about the origins of Punk Rock. Shane West brought Darby back to life. Must see!Movie Review: What We Do Is Secret
Summary: 4 Stars
I've seen WWDIS three times, and I'm giving it four stars. This is why:
The first star is for tenacity. This movie took something like ten years to make, years of believing in the project, searching for funding, not taking 'no' for an answer -- and all done by outsiders to the movie system. That takes some balls, you know? So kudos to Roger Grossman and Michelle.
The second star is for integrity. This is a labor of love. It isn't tainted by the exploitation that infected other punk movies from the past. It also helps that the original band members were apparently involved, to a degree, in the making of the film. But I would have liked to have seen more of the importance of Malissa in Darby's life, as well as Bosco.
Third star goes to the acting, most particularly Bijou Phillips and Shane West. Nice job.
Fourth star is for portraying the L.A. punk scene, period. Just as then it was ignored by the music industry, today it's apparently of little interest to the film industry. That's too bad, because the energy and originality of that time was amazing. The soundtrack, by the way, is terrific.
The weaknesses: the movie is too short (perhaps due to financial considerations), and I wish they had focused much more on what it must have been like to have been a young, closeted gay man in a scene that was becoming increasingly macho and intolerant. Darby also comes off in the film as a sort of generic, misunderstood rebel... it would have been truer and more affecting to see the darker, more insecure and controlling side of Darby.
Look, if you love the Germs music, you should definitely see this movie. If you're curious about the L.A. punk scene, see this movie. For further info, I'd recommend the book Lexicon Devil, and if you can find a copy of The Decline of Western Civilization (Part 1), do so. And of course, buying the Germs album. I think a lot of Darby's secrets are answered in his lyrics.
Movie Review: Mixed feelings were a given...
Summary: 4 Stars
First, I'm not going to pretend that I was around LA when all of this went down... I was in New Orleans, and I didn't really get into punk until 1980 or '81, when Black Flag came through. Darby Crash was already dead by then, so I never knew him, met him, or even saw the Germs. With that said, the fact that the surviving Germs are happy with Shane West and "What We Do is Secret" is enough for me.
I'll be honest though, I would've liked to have seen some more of the earlier years. Show some more of the time spent at IPS (read "Lexicon Devil"). I think that the film does try to project the complicated person that Crash appears to have been. I do think it comes off short though, perhaps because of the fact that the film itself clocks in around an hour and a half.
The list of people involved in the making of this film is impressive. It is a who's who of punk in Los Angeles. This, coupled with the input of the Germs and their immediate circle suggest that the film was credible.
What surprised me though was how many of the scenes of turmoil within the band seemed cliche. I've no doubt it was, but it still surprised me.
The documentary/ bio-epic presentation is interesting. I wonder why Grossman decided to do it this way. I don't know. If this film had a larger budget and this is what they turned out I would rate this movie lower... but the fact of the matter is that this film had a small budget and took almost two decades to make. This fact perhaps explains the relatively short length of "What We Do is Secret" as well as other shortcomings.
I'm glad this film was completed. I'm glad its out there and it is absolutely worth seeing, but, if you are a Germs fan you'd see it even if it was absolute trash.
Movie Review: A far better true punk rock story than Sid and Nancy!
Summary: 4 Stars
I remember when I first heard The Germs back in late 1979,80. That was my first time hearing punk rock music and it bewildered me. I was 14 and a resident of Los Angeles. But it left me with the memory of the band, wandereng what is this is all about. Well, 30 years later, and more diverse and mature, I finally decided to see what the hype was all about. The Germs were very brilliant, and their leader Darby Crash was a madman/genius! This movie does it's best to capture that era when The Germs were around and the wild stories and rumors that surrounded them. There is a lot of performances by The Germs throughout the movie. The actors do a great job portraying the true life characters. The live performances are very good too. Sad to say, this is another rock and roll tragedy if you haven't heard. But this movie is very real is life gets when you are trying to accomplish something that you believe in. I recommend this movie to any punk rock fan or the curious who would like to see a true story of a legendary punk rock band that gave The Sex Pistols a "run for the money"!