What We Do Is Secret

The ascension of The Germs was more of a local buzz of fans obsessed with seeing a self-fatal maniac cut himself on stage and snarl into a cheap mic. I used to be a huge Germs fan, not so much any longer, nevertheless, The film follows Darby's persistent nihilistic struggles as he moves forward with The Germs. I was terrified that this would be a simple boring chronicle with a fade to black at the end with a little blurb about what they're doing now. But I was confronted with a film that bridged an interesting gap between documentary and narrative film. The acting is suburb and the film is easy to watch and mostly accurate, which is surprising! Most 'punk' films are obsessed with a hard and fast sound track filled with the heavy hitting punk bands. This one however sticks mostly with Germs tunes, but fills the void with Bowie (one of Darby's favs) and some fear (they're playing at a club). The film-makers made excellent choices to keep the sound track in a supporting role and let Darby really take the lead, just as his did in the band.

Darby, for me, always summed up the punk world view, which is really angry nihilism (talk about irony)and I think this conflict is what he is ultimately struggling against, and also the reason that Punk as a 'movement' is self-defeating. Darby, as a character, is deep. And is artfully played. In the end, I suppose he would have made Nietzsche proud, Darby the anti-hero, the result of aspiring to the role of Übermensch. He found however, the bleak truth behind that famous graffiti, God is dead ~Nietzsche, Nietzsche is dead ~God.

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.

What We Do Is Secret starts out with Darby Crash being interviewed by a European journalist about his 5 year plan. This 5 year plan could either be one of pure cockiness or did Darby believe that his days were numbered? All we're told is that the plan was inspired by the David Bowie song "Five Years" Throughout the film we see the band fail to get club bookings due to the violent, anarchistic nature of their performances (even though Crash thought of himself as being a fascist), the descent in heroin addiction and a rather hilarious interview segment on Rodney Bingenheimers radio show. During the final 10 minutes of the film the Germs play their final show after which Darby is shown to be in a rather helpless state. Darby crosses path with Casey Cola and the two of them form a suicide a pact. Darby was found dead a day before the assassination of John Lennon.

Taking on the hard job of playing the punk icon Darby Crash is Shane West who is absolutely stellar in this role. Often at battle with himself (weak/strong, gentle/aggressive) West portrays crash as the intelligent and cocky young man full of self hatred in such a convincing manner. Following this film West went on to became the front man of the recently united Germs.

Bijou Phillips puts in one of her greatest efforts as Germs bassist Lorna Doom (even playing bass on the films soundtrack-with West providing vocals) Rick Gonzalez (Pat Smear) and Noah Segan (Don Bolles) put in equally effective performances. The gritty nasty underbelly of this scene is introduced to us by the cast of misfits, addicts and enablers who I'm thankful are behind the TV screen.

What I particularly liked about this film is that it didn't gloss over the fact that Darby Crash was a homosexual. The scene in which Darby is sitting in his bedroom, chest cut open wide with Rob Henley is a beautiful one. Throughout the film we see the nature of their relationship and Henley's desire to become the Germs drummer even though he doesn't have a single bit of musical talent. The punk scene of the 1970s was never one that accepted homosexuality so I found it fantastic that this important part of the story wasn't tossed aside.

The soundtrack to this film is wonderful and features the music of David Bowie (2 Ziggy Stardust era songs), Alice Cooper, X and Shane West, Bijou Phillips, Lucas Haas and Micheal Le Blanc recreating the music of the Germs. The Germs contributed to this soundtrack with new recordings of the classics with Shane West on vocals.

Darby Crash became a victim of his own creation.

Who? Well quite, and that may well be the problem for any casual movie fan who happens to like musical bio-pictures. Jan Paul Beahm during his short run for fame was better known as Darby Crash, lead singer and founding member of Los Angeles punk band The Germs. Firmly picking up on the punk ethic for doing it yourself, Crash and his band made waves across L.A. for a short period of time. Much like The Sex Pistols back in the UK, The Germs were blighted by being unable to play venues as their reputation preceded them. With Crash growing ever more erratic as he tried to execute the various strands of his so called 5 year plan, those around him invariably suffered. Here director Rodger Grossman attempts to tell the "true" story of the life and death of an enigmatic young man on a "crash" course to oblivion.

With low production values and a choppy attempt at being a semi rockumentary, What We Do Is secret is really only of interest to fans of the band or those wishing to bone up on American punk rock circa 1976-1980. Even tho myself, an ageing old British punker, quite liked The Germs, this film only exists because of two major factors. For the facts are that outside of L.A. they were hardly known at the time. It's only because of Crash's subsequent suicide at a young age {on the day John Lennon was shot and killed} and guitarist Pat Smear's future involvement with Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, that the band have had a reappraisal. With minimal input cut onto disc, one has to wonder if someone is trying to build up a legend that doesn't actually exist? What can be said with confidence is that the film at least brings the L.A. punk scene to notice. With all the historical talk about the New York punk scene that was born out of CBGB'S and Max's Kansas City, it often gets forgotten that L.A. had its moments too.

The cast here are pretty much the run of the mill performers one expects from such a production. Ranging from adequate (Shane West as Crash) to very decent (Rick Gonzalez of Coach Carter fame as Smear), Grossman's film will not be remembered for any great thesping. And since Crash is not very likable, or engaging on an intellectual level, the finale is unlikely to strike you with a sadness born out of the waste of a young life. However, the soundtrack crackles with punk vibrancy and emotive potency, and definitely some of the concert sequences have the look and feel of the original punk rock era. But ultimately the piece remains only worth an interest to an undemanding and small selection of music fans. Oh and 70s fashion guru's as well one thinks. 5.5/10

I just saw the Germs movie "What We Do Is Secret" in Westwood and it was awesome. The director and several of the actors were on hand which was cool. The music and lyrics of The Germs were a major part of my adolescent years in the early 80's. Usually rock n'roll bio pics just plain suck (they always do on VH1) and I was worried about this movie sucking since I am a huge Germs fan. It didn't suck, it ROCKED! The music was great. The acting was really well done. The directing was tight. The movie was paced well and it did a great job telling the story of a misunderstood band and it's front man, Darby Crash. This movie was obviously written and directed by someone who loved the Germs and it showed.

Hats off to the cast and crew for a job well done!!!!!

I'm a lifelong Germs fan. I loved the biography on Darby and was very excited to see this film. If you're a fan of the band, it is kind of cool to see them on screen doing their thing (not much video exists of the band so I'm used to articles and pictures). But overall, I did not enjoy it.

Unlike Sid and Nancy there are no memorable scenes and the film does not use music well. I challenge you to watch this and years later recall a scene as vividly as the "walking through the glass" scene in Sid and Nancy. Darby's inner struggles could have been explored in a fascinating way. They were not. This is just a basic run down of what the band looked like and where they hung out. I can't see any reason why anyone who isn't a huge Germs fan might enjoy this film. At the end a poem is read which Darby had written as a young teenager, but the actor messes up Darby's words. Appropriate.