Published: Friday, October 10, 2008
Hard-core punk rockers get mainstream biopic treatment
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Vitagraph photo
Bijou Phillips (left) and Shane West star in "What We Do Is Secret."
Music biographies have been a steady drumbeat in the movies, and at this point we've run through most of the high-profile singers and bands. Who's left?
For "What We Do is Secret," the answer is a notorious but influential L.A. band of the 1970s. This is the story of The Germs, a thrashing punk quartet with the obligatory charismatic, self-destructive lead singer. (The film's title is also the title of the band's best-known song.)
He was Darby Crash, born Jan Paul Beahm (played by Shane West). Still in high school, he declared a five-year plan to found a band and make himself legendary.
With a high-school friend later dubbed Pat Smear (Rick Gonzalez), and a couple of recruits, Darby set out on the path to glory. Step one: Learn how to play instruments.
The film celebrates the punk aesthetic of the time, which dictated that a band didn't need to be proficient at playing guitar or drums to make great music. The odd thing is, the movie itself has none of that spirit. It hits most of the same biopic notes Hollywood has hummed in movies about everybody from Cole Porter to Buddy Holly to Loretta Lynn, albeit with a different melody.
Those notes include the initial idea, the hushed treatment of certain great moments (telegraphed with the date and place of the gig in question), and the portent-heavy tread toward tragedy.
It also includes a big-scaled lead performance, in this case delivered by Shane West, a pug-nosed actor best known for a role in "ER." West throws himself into it, providing somewhat more noise than light. (To his credit, he's convincing enough that the real surviving members of The Germs have drafted him to play some live sets with them.)
West can't explain Crash's admiring talk of Hitler, or his apparently repressed homosexuality. The movie mostly glides over Crash's sex life, although this must have been a big part of a young guy becoming a rock star -- it usually is.
Bijou Phillips and Noah Segan play the other key members of the band, who buzz around Crash's strongarm leadership. Director Rodger Grossman, making his first feature, gets a bit of the flavor of the L.A. punk scene, although the low-budget approach limits his moves.
The end credits play out over David Bowie's "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide," which is the kind of heavy-handed touch that distinguishes the film overall. "What We Do is Secret" works up enough musical fury to make people curious about The Germs, but that's the extent of its power.
"What We Do is Secret"
The Germs: A biopic of L.A. punk band The Germs, with emphasis on its charismatic lead singer, Darby Crash (Shane West). Although the band celebrated the no-skills-required punk aesthetic, the movie has little of that spirit -- it's really the same music bio Hollywood's been making for decades.
Rated: R for language, nudity, subject
Now showing: Varsity
For "What We Do is Secret," the answer is a notorious but influential L.A. band of the 1970s. This is the story of The Germs, a thrashing punk quartet with the obligatory charismatic, self-destructive lead singer. (The film's title is also the title of the band's best-known song.)
He was Darby Crash, born Jan Paul Beahm (played by Shane West). Still in high school, he declared a five-year plan to found a band and make himself legendary.
With a high-school friend later dubbed Pat Smear (Rick Gonzalez), and a couple of recruits, Darby set out on the path to glory. Step one: Learn how to play instruments.
The film celebrates the punk aesthetic of the time, which dictated that a band didn't need to be proficient at playing guitar or drums to make great music. The odd thing is, the movie itself has none of that spirit. It hits most of the same biopic notes Hollywood has hummed in movies about everybody from Cole Porter to Buddy Holly to Loretta Lynn, albeit with a different melody.
Those notes include the initial idea, the hushed treatment of certain great moments (telegraphed with the date and place of the gig in question), and the portent-heavy tread toward tragedy.
It also includes a big-scaled lead performance, in this case delivered by Shane West, a pug-nosed actor best known for a role in "ER." West throws himself into it, providing somewhat more noise than light. (To his credit, he's convincing enough that the real surviving members of The Germs have drafted him to play some live sets with them.)
West can't explain Crash's admiring talk of Hitler, or his apparently repressed homosexuality. The movie mostly glides over Crash's sex life, although this must have been a big part of a young guy becoming a rock star -- it usually is.
Bijou Phillips and Noah Segan play the other key members of the band, who buzz around Crash's strongarm leadership. Director Rodger Grossman, making his first feature, gets a bit of the flavor of the L.A. punk scene, although the low-budget approach limits his moves.
The end credits play out over David Bowie's "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide," which is the kind of heavy-handed touch that distinguishes the film overall. "What We Do is Secret" works up enough musical fury to make people curious about The Germs, but that's the extent of its power.
"What We Do is Secret"
The Germs: A biopic of L.A. punk band The Germs, with emphasis on its charismatic lead singer, Darby Crash (Shane West). Although the band celebrated the no-skills-required punk aesthetic, the movie has little of that spirit -- it's really the same music bio Hollywood's been making for decades.
Rated: R for language, nudity, subject
Now showing: Varsity
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