What We Do Is Secret
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Movie Reviews of What We Do Is Secret
Movie Review: Great Film!
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is a stellar example of vision, persistence and character on the part of director Roger Grossman, Shane West and Bijou Phillips. They brought forth a forgotten gem of American history that was overlooked by the assassination of John Lennon in 1980.
I give it four stars because the price is too high for a DVD. It's not even a special edition.
Buyer beware: Lot's of drug use and mature situations.
Movie Review: How did this even get made?
Summary: 3 Stars
I find most biopics shallow and corny, no exception here, but I'm perplexed as to how this one got made in the first place.
I can understand how a movie like, say, Oliver Stone's The Doors came about, since The Doors, beyond just having a cult following, also had half a dozen hit records, toured the world, and have had several books written about them; but who were The Germs? They were a garage band that were together for less than 4 years, put out only one album in that time, were little known outside of the Los Angeles area because they didn't tour, and had little influence outside of a subsection of an already small indie punk scene. While they may have been among the first to play the style of music that would come to be known as hardcore, being the first doesn't mean they were the best; contemporary LA bands like Black Flag and the Circle Jerks were musically a lot better, as were many of the bands that would later come out of the suburbs.
It's true that singer Darby Crash wrote lyrics that were of a higher caliber than the standard rock fare and that he could rightly be considered a poet, but you wouldn't know it from the slurred, unintelligible way in which he sang the songs; I've owned the Germs' G.I. LP since 1987 or '88 and had no idea his lyrics were that good until I happened to read some of them online a few years ago (unfortunately, the record didn't come with a lyric sheet). I was amazed to discover such intelligence in his lyrics because on stage and in interviews, he came off like a stupid, drunken buffoon more than anything. I'd wager that more people have heard of The Germs because guitarist Pat Smear went on to play in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters than for anything the band accomplished during its brief existence. Well, there was that iconic image of Crash lying on the ground, clutching a microphone, black marker war paint dripping down his face and a Maltese cross hanging off his neck, that was used for the poster of Penelope Spheeris's documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, but image doesn't equal substance.
There just wasn't a lot of material to work with here.
I kept thinking as I was watching this that there were far more interesting subjects to make a biopic about than Darby Crash, like Rozz Williams of Christian Death, for example (though I doubt a movie would ever get made about him since it would be nearly impossible to make it a feelgood popcorn movie and since an honest movie about his life would portray homosexuals negatively, which Hollywood doesn't want to do in these politically-correct times).
While I'm no expert on Crash's life or the history of The Germs, the movie seems fairly accurate from a factual standpoint, and fortunately, it doesn't go to town with the rumor that Crash was a homosexual, which I feared it might (though it's implied throughout the movie that he was).
The movie touches lightly on Crash's fascination with Adolf Hitler and fascism (there's something vaguely fascistic in the armbands with blue circles worn throughout the movie), but surprisingly, completely avoids one of the more intriguing facets of The Germs, namely, Crash's interest in cults, Scientology, and mind control. It would appear from some of the things I've read online that Crash admired Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and regarded The Germs as an experiment in mass mind control, perhaps even as a cult. I would have found the movie far more interesting if it had spent some time exploring that, instead of taking the safe route of being a formulaic rock star biopic.
Movie Review: I'm Not a Commodity (or maybe I am)
Summary: 3 Stars
I liked punk back in the late 1970's but since I didn't live in LA I never had the chance to actually see a live Germs show. I have seen The Decline of Western Civilization as well as plenty of other Germ performances on video which of course isn't quite the same thing as seeing a live Germs show but its probably as close as most of us will come to seeing and feeling what punk in all of its filth and fury was all about.
The godfathers of punk were Lou Reed and David Bowie and Iggy Pop. LA punk was a fusion of these artist's attitudes and styles. It may seem to all have happened spontaneously but of course it was supposed to seem that way. In actuality punk was just as theatrical as a Lou Reed or David Bowie show. Reed and Bowie shows provided a venue for self-expression and punk shows were the same way. For most punks it was just plain fun to dress up in outrageous costumes and play or attend gigs. But for the hardcore punks like Darby Crash it was more than just dressing up and having a larf.
Whats sad is that Darby Crash was very funny in real life but had very little sense of humor when it came to performing. For Crash performance was a kind of validation and crowd approval was something that he couldn't live without. Unfortunately Crash made his reputation with destructive behavior and the crowd wanted to see destruction every night. And Crash aimed to please.
This film is very good at making the punk scene look like fun. It cleverly casts a very likable actor to play Darby Crash (Shane West looks like Ewan MacGregor) and equally likable actors to play band members (Bijou Phillips is especially enjoyable as the high-spirited and quirky gum smacking "Lorna Doom"). And most of the film really just feels like a bunch of kids having a good time playing music and creating good punk theatre. And I think for many this is enough to make the film worth their while. However, the film is less successful when addressing the specifics of Crash's motivations, ambitions, his ambiguous sexuality, and his lyrics. Though enjoyable the movie just kind of glosses over these substantive issues and so the ending comes as just as much of a shock to us (even though we know its coming) as it does to fellow band members.
If you don't expect it to be a genuine punk artifact (which it isn't) you might be entertained.
Movie Review: still, this is a good flick
Summary: 3 Stars
i know there are those----probably correct---in saying this movie was not what it could and should have been. still, this is a good flick. i think it captures the KIND of kids who liked punk as fans and performers and gravitated towards it as a means of self expression, originality and as a way of having something of their own that most in their own generation didn't even acknowledge. i remember talking to my classmates in 77, 78 about the ramones, clash, pistols, etc. and getting looks like i was from another planet. punk was, as it says in this film, for those inside the circle.
the one thing i didn't care for was that a lot of the germs' best songs were left off---"american leather" still sounds fresh and dangerous even today------and i still think crash was under appreciated as a vocal stylist. i remember getting this album and thinking, "so, america finally has it's own punk band who can be just as brutal as the english". without the germs, i'm not sure if anyone would have listened to or cared about fear, black flag, etc. in his way, his phrasing was more original than joey ramone, joe strummer, or even johnny rotten himself. with few exceptions who are only pale imitators, there's still no one who does what he did. hey, for 10 bucks??? see this movie.
Movie Review: What We Did is ... Not So Secret Anymore
Summary: 3 Stars
Some of this movie is exciting, intense and powerful. But it's hard to make a great feature film that retains the power of real life. This was one of those situations. It reminds me of when I saw the movie Dogtown as opposed to the documentary. The features often lose the power and depth of the situation by having to explain it somehow in a couple hours without a budget that can make it more real as far as concert footage, etc. If you want to know more about early L.A. punk this is good to see. You can see the fashion and hear some music and get the basic story of the Germs. I would suggest the book, Lexicon Devil, for those who really want to know the deep inside story of Darby and the Germs. I remember Darby and the Germs from 9th grade and going to shows and parties. The book Lexicon Devil helped me understand it more. Doing a movie about the Germs is so hard to pull off. I think only Scorcese or someone of that caliber could have made it awesome.
Check out my book about growing up as a goofy punk kid in L.A. during the early 80s:
One Step Beyond: A Teenage Odyssey in 1980s Los Angeles (Volume 1)