The Decline of Western Civilization III

Director: Penelope Spheeris

1998 / 86min / DCP

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.

Distributor: Avatar Films