What We Do Is Secret (2007)

 What We Do Is Secret (2007)

Rising out of the chaotic, drug fueled punk scene of Los Angeles the Germs while only active for from 1977 to 1980 became a band who transformed the face of punk rock. This film retells the rise and fall of this great band who's impact and influence is still felt today.

Set in the punk rock scene of late 1970s Los Angeles, this story is about the bold, tormented and ultimately used up Darby Crash (Shane West) and a band he led called The Germs. Darby formed the band as an expression of his contempt for the world and everything in it. He started it before he or any of his band mates could play their instruments, simultaneously lashing out at the expectations of the audience while mocking the band's own pretensions at significance. The movie follows the fairly predictable course of showing the bands ignoble beginnings, their rise to success and then the excesses that led them to destruction, but setting the tale within the subculture of late 70s punk rock gives it a slightly different sensibility. Inside that world, audacious and intemperate failure was prized more than triumph, self-abasement became a form of self-glorification and anti-social behavior became normality.