The Decline of Western Civilization

Jul 1, 1981

1h 40m

★ 7.1

See it in a theater.... where you can't get hurt.

Overview

The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.

Genres

Documentary

Music

Production Companies

Spheeris Films Inc.

The Decline of Western Civilization Trailers

Cast

Self

Eugene Tatu

Self

Alice Bag

Self

Claude Bessy

Self

Dinah Cancer

Self

Exene Cervenka

Self

Lorna Doom

Self

Darby Crash

Self

Don Bolles

Self

Philo Cramer

Self

John Doe

Self

Lee Ving

Self

Greg Ginn

Four years after a military coup overthrew the Brazilian government in 1964, all civil rights were suspended and torture became a systematic practice. Using a mix of fiction and documentary this extraordinary film is a searing record of personal memory, political repression and the will to survive. Interviews with eight women who were political prisoners during the military dictatorship are framed by the fantasies and imaginings of an anonymous character, portrayed by actress Irene Ravache.

6.8

Dig!

May 14, 2004

A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.

7.1

In the Realms of the Unreal

Jan 15, 2004

In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.

7.1

A Star Is Born

Oct 1, 1954

A movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

8.5

Farewell, Herr Schwarz

Apr 10, 2014

A documentary about the outcome of a decision made by a brother and sister in 1945. One missed meeting, two families, and three generations.

6.8

Blindsight

Sep 11, 2006

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

0.0

Weiss ist die Farbe der Verlierer

Jan 1, 1974

Short film against the oppression of women. At first, differences in education are presented and then how the relationship between women and men looks like in the professional world.

7.0

The Yes Men

Sep 7, 2003

A comic, biting and revelatory documentary following a small group of prankster activists as they gain worldwide notoriety for impersonating the World Trade Organization (WTO) on television and at business conferences around the world.

8.0

Goose Lake International Music Festival

Aug 9, 1970

The Goose Lake International Music Festival held August 7–9, 1970 in Leoni Township, Michigan, "was one of the largest music events of its era", and featured many of the top rock music bands of the period. Songs performed include: Savage Grace - All Along The Watchtower, John Sebastian - Darling Be Home Soon, Harmonica Solo - Teegarden & Van Winkle, Ten Years After - Sweet Little Sixteen, The Stooges - 1970, Mountain - Ain't Got A Dime Jam, Mississippi Queen.

7.2

Michael Jackson: Chase the Truth

Aug 13, 2019

Taking an investigative look into the legal battles of the global superstar. Close friends, former staff and researchers paint an intimate portrait of Jackson's complicated world and put allegations of sexual abuse under the microscope. The film defends American singer Michael Jackson against allegations of child sexual abuse made in the documentary Leaving Neverland.

2.0

East LA Interchange

Jul 26, 2015

East L.A. Interchange follows the evolution of working-class, immigrant Boyle Heights, the oldest neighborhood in East Los Angeles from multiethnic to predominately Latino and a cradle of Mexican-American culture in the U.S. The documentary tells the story of how one neighborhood managed to survive the construction of the largest and busiest freeway interchange in the nation and explores the shifting face of community in the United States today arguing why it should matter to us all.

6.5

Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats

Mar 20, 1988

Beverly hills dowager leaves everything to Benny the Ball because her only rightful heir, her niece Amy, is missing. But that's only if Benny stays alive for 48 hours. If not, evil butler Snerdly and his mad Russian Wolfhound are next in line - and he's quick to pull every trick in the book to do poor Benny in and the troop sets off to rescue Benny and find the lost heir Amy.

6.0

Jazz in Love

Jul 26, 2013

Jazz in Love tells the story of Jazz, a young man from Davao whose dream wedding is within reach: his boyfriend of 11 months has proposed. Because no law allows him to get married in the Philippines, he must fly to Germany, his boyfriend's home country, and tie the knot there. One of the things that stand in his way is his inability to speak Deutsch, and to address that he must temporarily relocate to Manila for language lessons. Meanwhile, his parents remain completely unaware of the radical changes that his life is about to undergo.

7.0

Jesus Camp

Sep 15, 2006

Jesus Camp is a Christian summer camp where children hone their "prophetic gifts" and are schooled in how to "take back America for Christ". The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future.

7.0

An Inconvenient Truth

May 24, 2006

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

6.9

Velvet Goldmine

Aug 28, 1998

Almost a decade since larger-than-life glam-rock enigma Brian Slade disappeared from public eye, an investigative journalist is on assignment to uncover the truth behind his former idol.

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0.0

Flowers from the Mount of Olives

May 9, 2013

Right alongside Jerusalem, in a Russian Orthodox Convent in the Mount of Olives, in the middle of the Arab quarter, lives the 82-year-old Estonian nun Mother Ksenya.

0.0

People, Years, Life

Jan 1, 1990

Using images shot in Russia and Armenia from World War I to the 1930s and retrieved from a Soviet film archive, Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi constructed a meditative film about the status of Armenians as a people without a state. Inspired by the diary of Gianikian’s father, People, Years, Life uses rare footage depicting the region’s major historic events: the end of Tsarist Russia, violence in the Caucasus during World War I, the 1918 Armenian exodus from Azerbaijan. Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi’s treatment of the material manipulates the speed of the images, adds color and music, and magnifies various parts of the image, so that the movement of bodies across the frame begins to carry the weight of exile, mourning, dispossession.

5.7

Balkan Inventory

Nov 10, 2000

Comprised of images shot by amateur photographers and German soldiers in the Balkans from the twenties through the forties, BALKAN INVENTORY was begun by Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi in response to the tragedy unfolding in the former Yugoslavia.

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5.0

Ghiro ghiro tondo

Nov 24, 2007

Inspired by their beloved Dolomite area in Northeast Italy, a battle theater in World Wars I and II, Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi continue to explore issues of war and peace in their most recent production. The film uses shots of ordinary toys found in the area, many missing limbs and other pieces, to represent, in both direct and oblique ways, the historical period between Fascism, Nazism, and the postwar era.