Scene report: crust-punks in the 1990s.
I dragged my feet watching the third entry into Penelope Spheeris’ Decline of Western Civilisation trilogy. The second has the blockbuster marquee appeal with its Metal Years bone-head hilarity, and the first is a witness to the LA punk scene as it happens. In the back half of the 1990s, The Decline Of Western Civilisation III (1998), the third documentary has no big names in the bands participating for live gigs, and it’s not interested in the pop-punk names of the time like Green Day. The film goes deeper, more specific, entering into the world of gutterpunks.
Using the same interview set-up as the first movie, young punks seated against a blank backdrop and a single light bulb, Spheeris asks questions about why they’re punks. There’s a point in the movie where Spheeris takes her camera out into the street, seeing them ask for change to buy beer, sit on the streets, talk about where they’re squatting, or observe them partying in an apartment that one of them has. The vibes are depressing and despairing, but the film has a stronger emotional resonance in Spheeris’ obvious empathy and concern for the kids who only have each other, the music and the identity of being against society, a society that has forfeited them without interest, unless it’s police presence to patrol and discipline.
There’s a snap to the camerawork and editing, often freeze framing on a guitar riff and a punchline. Older, more famous punks like Keith Morris or Flea talk for a scene or two, and we hang out with a few of the bands, Naked Aggression and The Resistance. This one gets overlooked but it really brings the trilogy to an emotional and disquieting chapter, where tragedy is just around the corner, and in the final postscripts, questions remain about who these kids were. Whether what they give in terms of being interviewed for the camera can ever truly capture their personal hells.
Available on Tubi. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 