The Decline of Western Civilization Part III
Essential Documentaries
•
1h 26m
Directed by Penelope Spheeris | 86 mins | 1998
After a detour into the high heady heyday of Sunset Strip hair metal in the second film of her essential social history of rock ’n’ roll in southern California, Spheeris returned to the hardcore punk roots of her first Decline, embedding herself among various groups of gutter punks, ranging in age from their teen to mid-twenties, communally squatting in abandoned real estate in the drabber corners of Greater Los Angeles. The surge of insurgent creative energy in the 1981 Decline has long since dissipated in Part III, leaving behind only a residue of anti-social nihilism and self-loathing—none of the bands seen performing at a Corona-area gig here can make a claim for lasting artistic significance—but Spheeris’s fondness for her subjects remains, making for a surprisingly endearing group portrait of deeply damaged kids eking out something like a life in Dead End America.
Up Next in Essential Documentaries
-
The Decline of Western Civilization P...
Directed by Penelope Spheeris | 93 mins | 1988
The scummy, lightening-in-a-bottle Los Angeles punk scene that Penelope Spheeris captured in the first “Decline of Western Civilization” (1981) had morphed considerably by the time of this second instalment, nearly a decade later: the hair was bigger... -
The French
Directed by William Klein | 130 mins | 1982
“For me, this film encapsulates everything I loved and love about the tennis of that moment; and in the hands of the great and singular William Klein, it is at once a gripping sports page, a fascinating piece of reportage, and a work of art.”—Wes ...
-
The Image Book
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard | 84 mins | 2019
A cinematic collage, an esoteric essay film, a wide-reaching, freewheeling ontological history of the moving image, and a sorrowful survey of the fallen world at the beginning of the 21st century, Special Palme d’Or winner The Image Book is a labyrinth...
