The Decline of Western Civilization, Part III

The '70s is a period Penelope Spheeris limned unforgettably in her documentary of punk-rock nihilism, The Decline of Western Civilization. After taking a detour with heavy metal in The Decline of Western Civilization, Part II, Spheeris returned to the scene with Part III, and one hopes that there's no place to go but up. The music sounds much the same, but it barely registers as background noise for the benighted squalor of what remains of the LA punk scene. These are not the pierced, mohawked, leather-clad kids who hang out in Harvard Square and then go home to the suburbs -- they're homeless, alcoholic, abused children who live on the street and in squats and whose beatific, furious despair is utterly convincing.

-- Peter Keough