What We Do Is Secret Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
A biopic of punk legend Darby Crash and his band, the Germs.
| Shane West | Darby Crash |
| Bijou Phillips | Lorna Doom |
| Rick Gonzalez | Pat Smear |
| Noah Segan | Don Bolles |
| Ashton Holmes | Rob Henley |
| Tina Majorino | Michelle |
| Lauren German | Belinda |
| Keir O'Donnell | Chris Ashford |
| Sebastian Roché | Claude Kickboy Bessy |
| Azura Skye | Casey Cola |
| Katharine Leonard | Jena |
| Rachael Santhon | Malissa |
| Thom Bishops | Tony the Hustler |
| Noah Abrams | Audience Member #1 |
| Gary Alcock | Beer Guy |
| Rodger Grossman |
6.30 out of 10 (327 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Waste
posted on 19 May 2009This coulda been good but it was pretty awful. Bad acting by most of the cast, poor direction and the sound was crappy (although the crowd noises during the concert scenes sounded real). I am not a fan of the Germs and although I do respect what they tried to do but this seemed like a whole lot of nothing. If this was an accurate portrayal of Darby Crash I do not think he is deserving of a biopic that makes him out to be an original innovator. He was a Iggy Pop wannabe and then an Adam Ant poser. It was embarrassing; I could not wait for him to OD so the film would be over. The majority of the songs performed in concert were awful.Hope one day someone does a good film about the West Coast Punk scene. Maybe a film about SST records and the bands who recorded for them would be good.
i heard the book was at least good.
posted on 08 Mar 2009It's really hard for me to rate this film. i didn't like it at all. Yet i still kept wanted to watch it.Even though it's a true story, all of the characters were like stereotypes. The British guy, the french guy, etc. So the acting was terrible, especially by the girl who played Amber. Shane West was really annoying. If that's how Darby really was, then i am not missing out on not listening to their music. He seemed like a pretentious attention whore who tried standing out just to get attention. And it showed a few of his phases where he changed his way of dressing and being. He never seemed like an original guy so i have no idea why he was so loved. If it was the stage show, Iggy Pop did much more than Darby. But Shane West always had this cocky smirk on his face even when he was trying to look sad. He was great at crying though! The Bronx as Black Flag was cool.The direction was pretty great. Except a few of the scenes you could tell were staged and didn't feel organic or real. Like when they were shooting up, they were in a conveniently lit spot just for them.i grew up listening to punk bands but never The Germs. i didn't even know who they were until a friend mentioned them. So i'm not biased when it comes to them and am not a fan. The movie was a 'meh' for me. i definitely didn't like the music. This movie is more for fans than people interested in movies. If you want to see a good indie biopic, see Control about Ian Curtis of Joy Division.
Great depiction
posted on 24 Dec 2008This movie was great, both to inform people who care to learn, and people who are already interested in the subject and punks in general. I read a comment in here that said this movie was too "clean" and that punks were "scum and proud". If this is a reason to dislike this movie then you obviously are not seeing things how you're supposed to. The whole mind set of punks is being themselves and being individual because they feel that's what is right. In their minds they're not doing anything wrong; in their minds, they were the ones who were truly clean, where as the high and mighty assholes of society living their fake lives were the ones who were scum and proud. This film is through the viewpoint of the punks, to better relate to them. Keep that in mind when watching this film, it isn't like every other punk movie spat out by the media to show how outrageous and unethical punk is, whoring it like it's some kind of circus act, if you're looking for that in a punk movie, you're missing the point and should steer clear of this film.
Punk stardom: nasty, brutish, and short
posted on 14 Nov 2008Last year there was an accomplished little film called Control by Anton Corbijn starring Samantha Morton, Sam Riley, Alexandra Maria Lara, et al., with beautiful black and white images of England evoking the short life of Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, an English rock group of the 80's. This is the same thing, only the singer and the group, "legendary" and "seminal" though they may be among followers of punk, are less remembered among music fans, and the extent of the legend hardly becomes clear in this version. The focus is a lead singer who runs a group called The Germs. The film-making, which mixes dramatized sequences with fake documentary interviews, seeks to evoke the LA punk scene of the late 70's and early 80's. The scene and the film are sloppier, the concert sequences are more violent and less musical, the characters are less defined, and the ending is sudden. Yet in the opinion of some fans, it's not violent or sloppy enough, and one can see their point.The lead singer in question, played by the successful TV actor Shane West, is a professed Fascist, though anarchy seems more his style, who takes on the name Darby Crash. He has been expelled from a special high school whose teachers proclaim him ungovernable but brilliant. He gives other band members names like Lorna Doom (Bijou Phillips) and Pat Smear (Rick Gonzalez). Gonzales has wonderful cheekbones, but never seems like a punker. Darby tells a French interviewer that he has a five-year plan--indication of his ambition but also a hint that his days are intentionally numbered. He's giving himself that long to make it big; perhaps also that long to live? So it went, anyway. At some point he seems to have said to the band they'd be as big as the Beatles. Ironically, he offed himself the night John Lennon was shot. In a late sequence Darby's cohorts mourn Lennon as they watch reports on TV of his death, while the scene cuts back and forth to their lead singer, alone with a girl groupie pledged to go out with him, deliberately overdosing.This movie may awaken nostalgia or longing in those who wish life were crazier than it is now. The LA punk scene was a time of true mayhem, which is conveyed here even if the styles and interactions don't always quite fit the period. The group is assembled haphazardly including two girls recruited on the basis that they should have no talent and not be able to play an instrument. The Germs began to play without knowledge of the rudiments of music or their axes and their energy grew out of the outrage of the audience, which itself seemed more in search of violence and anger than art from the stage. This was a time of "joke bands," set up with some gimmick, like a male lead singer wearing a dress, and wailing laments that were not taken seriously by the band. The Germs were more serious, insofar as their leader cut himself and bled in public. The aim was to risk everything, and The Germs got banned from one music venue after another. At one point they stage a comeback by changing their name to "GI," for "Germs Incognito." They have trouble finding a drummer and run through nine. The one who sticks is a guy from Arizona who calls himself Don Bolles (Noah Segan). Segan has a wide-eyed eagerness and energy that, faute de mieux, has to pass for Bolles' personality. A homosexual relationship seems to develop between a certain Robby Henley (Ashton Holmes), who hero-worships Darby, but maybe he just wants to be in the band. Later he replaces Bolles as drummer through a violent misunderstanding. A woman called Amber (Missy Doty) becomes manager, over someone else, by virtue of paying for Darby's and the others' drinks and drugs.Briefly Penelope Spheeris becomes a character, shown working with a big movie camera on her film, The Decline of Western Civilization--a reminder that this is a scene that has been well documented. This is a fictionalized recreation, with documentary touches. In that respect more than Control it resembles Fulton and Pepe's 2005 Brothers of the Head, which cunningly presents multiple forms of fake footage for an invented Siamese twin punk band. But both of those deserve higher ratings than What We Do Is Secret, though some may value the raw crudity of the concert sequences here, rarely recreated with such ferocity.The movie is less successful, indeed makes little effort, at showing how The Germs interacted with and influenced, or were influenced by, other punk bands of the time; and in detailing the personalities involved; or specific songs. Datelines indicate times and venues of main Germs concerts, and the making of an album is briefly sketched in. But concerts are represented by one partial, ill-defined song each. Contrast Control where some concerts get extended sequences, and songs come through to even an uninformed viewer. Here, the atmosphere outside of violent clashes between people, boasting by Darby, and the in-your-face nosh pit concert scenes, is not really that punk. The clothes and manners could be any beatnik hippie depressed young folk of the last fifty years, and the effort to define a moment through a key group and voice is a failure.
Could be better
posted on 09 Oct 2008As much as I love punk music, I have to say that I have yet to see a punk biopic that really wows me. Even SID AND NANCY couldn't do the trick for me. Perhaps it is better to be heard and not seen. And when a movie came out about The Germs, one of the most underrated groups. It was a must see.WHAT WE DO IS SECRET depicts the story of the Los Angeles based group, the Germs, and notably their lead singer Darby Crash. In their short career, they made only one album and started riots at there show.I was not a fan on how the film was executed. It was a semi-documentary, where Darby Crash's band mates (who were really, the actors in the film) discuss the infamous singer. I could never really take that pseudo-documentary style, either do a documentary.The portrayals of the band members is probably the only thing that redeemed this film. It really did capture the punk spirit of the late 70s, just badly executed. For die-hard Germs fans only.
Don't waste your time or money on this movie.
posted on 05 Sep 2008just saw the movie, and after viewing it i must say i found it to be utter garbage. What a typical Hollywood fluff piece. This film is a disgrace to the memory of Darby Crash and The Germs. If anyone wants a good insight into the Germs, please read the book, Lexicon Devil, The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash. Shame on you Roger Grossman, Shame on you Michelle Baer Ghaffari for making this mockery of a film about thegreatest punk rocker, and greatest punk band there ever was.To Shane West, stop living on the coat tails of the late Darby Crash. You are NOT Darby Crash, nor will you EVER be Darby Crash, so stop pretending to BE Darby Crash. Stick with acting. In my opinion, The Germs,(as a band), died when Darby died. For the remaining Germs to be out touring with Shane West as the singer is nothing short of appalling and disgraceful. RIP Darby, your true memory lives on in your music and in the hearts and minds of those that loved you.
Interesting, but superficial
posted on 07 Jul 2008I was kind of surprised to see this film come out, really. It's a rather odd choice for a subject, to me, because while The Germs were certainly popular to an extent "back in the day", how much relevance do they have today? Well, I do still my CD of all their studio stuff, but you certainly don't hear them on any "oldies" station, like the Beatles or Doors. Still though, I was intrigued by this & definitely wanted to see it.Obviously, it's rather difficult to depict the rise & fall of Darby Crash & the Germs in 92 minutes, but this film does a fairly decent, if superficial, attempt.The film gives us Darby & Lorna & Pat & a succession of drummers, as they work their way from "joke band" to major force in the LA Punk scene. Finally drummer Don Bolles "drives out" from Arizona just to be their drummer, so he's hired. The Germs have a hard time getting shows because they've been banned from about every venue in LA, thanks to their reputation, meaning, where they go, trouble follows. And destruction of property, and fights, etc.Darby has some interesting ideas, which are discussed only briefly, especially his obsession with circles. He also speaks of having a 5-year plan, and needing people to help him complete it. However, if you know anything about the Germs, then you know how his 5-year plan was completed. The film touches on Darby's drug addiction, his homosexuality, and a few things that I knew nothing about, like his involvement with some "fat cow" named Amber, who became The Germs manager? Huh... Like I said, it's hard to go into anything too much in depth in 92 minutes, but the film does at least try.The music is pretty damn good & I'll be hauling out my Germs: MIA CD tomorrow before I go out in the car, which hasn't been listened to much lately but watching this film did renew my interest. If you liked the Germs & their music, this is worth seeing, but maybe not if you actually SAW the Germs. I never did, I lived in the SF Bay Area during their heyday & they were too busy trashing LA to come north.6 out of 10, worth a look, anyway.
Liked it a lot.
posted on 03 Jun 2008Didn't really want to see this movie because I wasn't part of the punk scene in the 70s. Went with a friend who was really into it back in the day. Darby Crash had this 5 yr. plan that he was going to start a band (the Germs) and that he would be famous one day. Except no one in the band knew how to play any musical instruments. How ballsy was that?! They end up becoming famous for their music, the crazy things they do on stage (Darby cuts himself) and the rioting that used to happen in the audience. Lot of drugs in the movie but in the end you see thats what led to Darby's suicide. My friend told me that the band go on to be a famous LA punk group.The actor who played Darby (the lead singer who formed the band)really did a great job. At the beginning of the movie I didn't know if it was the "real" Darby talking about the past or the actor. Bijou Philips was great too. She was a guitar player who seemed to be the heart of the band.Cool movie. One of those that your not sure about but walk out after seeing it and glad you did.
very mixed bag; watch it for the performances, and one or two things
posted on 02 May 2008It's simply this: Shane West, as a singer and performer of Germs songs as Darby Crash in What We Do is Secret, works fine. In the 1/4 of the film where the filmmakers turned their attention to the on-stage performances for the film (or one-time album recording), West does very good work, so good in fact one may be tempted to revisit just those aggressive and loud and messy and amazingly crude songs when the film is broadcast on a loop on IFC (you know it will be). And yet, for all of West's feracity in the part as the singer, when he has to *act* as Darby Crash, it's at best halfway believable and at worst very stupid.There is a resemblance, somewhere, between West- who previously appeared in such films as, yes, A Walk to Remember- and the grimy and death-by-junk singer who had a real intelligence and some crazy ideas. But at the same time West also looks and sounds and sometimes emotes just like what he is: a good but definite pretty boy. Darby Crash was many things, but a pretty boy assuredly not. And because the writing means to try its damndest to put a lot of the emotional weight on Crash, many moments (though not all) with West as Crash fall flat. Thankfully, by the third act, he isn't as irksome, and it almost turns into a halfway decent portrayal of such a true cult figure (cult in the literal sense perhaps).And yet I can't put all blame on West, or even for the other competent-to-good-to-not-so-good supporting actors playing other members of the Germs. It's the first-time writer/director Rodger Grossman, who hasn't quite figured out at times how to be very confident with the camera, and at best is most daring (in somewhat predictable ways) during the musical sequences and perhaps one shot where a pool is reflected. The rest is a lot of rote work as far as the dramatic stuff goes - when it comes to the "iterviews" done with the people in the band, the groupies, the b-word "manager/girlfriend/mother" of Darby Crash, they fare much better. Indeed if Grossman had been more decisive with how to take the direction of the film (as a documentary done with actors filling in the parts and going through actual things they may or may not have said), it would have worked better either way as gritty bio-pic or bittersweet pseudo-documentary.I probably sound harder on this movie than the actual vote/rating would say. Maybe it's because as a big fan of The Germs I was slightly more forgiving than other people may be. For the uninitiated it definitely gives a precisely strange and f***-ed up idea of who Crash was and how he drifted into heroin. And as well the uninitiated will find that it stinks. It's for die-hards only.
Great music and great acting
posted on 16 Apr 2008I can't express how great this movie is! I was dragged to a screening by a friend and this film has inspired me to learn about punk. Learning the history of the Germs and Darby Crash was amazing. I wish that I had the opportunity to see Darby perform live. I think Shane West will go far in his acting career.The drug use scenes disturbed me, but that was about it. Watching Darby's friends grieve for John Lennon the same night Darby kills himself was heart breaking.The music in the film was outstanding and I understand that the ACTORS not the band played the instruments. My hat is off to Roger Grossman for pulling this movie together.
Just saw the movie in Westwood and it was great!!!!
posted on 11 Mar 2008I 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!!!!!
Director did his homework....
posted on 27 Jan 2008Outstanding flick! I never met Darby, but The Germs have long been my favorite band and I've read everything I can about them. This movie was as accurate as a documentary, which I very much respect--the movie makers did their homework well. The acting was excellent, the cinematography, the storyline.... This has become one of my very favorite movies. I know I'm biased because I like The Germs so much, but it really was well-done. I went to see the movie with my wife (not a punk) and three teenage nieces (one of whom likes country "music"), and they all liked it a lot too. It is dark, so I'll grant that it's not for everyone--the Disney crowd may not appreciate it. But for most people, I highly recommend it!
Trainwreck, absolute rubbish and hopes dashed . . .
posted on 19 Jan 2008I was excited to see this title showing up on Netflix and I promptly rented it. I knew the movie was being made after reading some articles on various music related web sites that referenced it. I was always curious about Darby because I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's and I saw and read about him in many magazines I read at the time. I was an angst filled teenager in 1977 and I followed many of the punk bands that were born in the Los Angeles/San Francisco scene. I was also a skateboard freak at the time as were a lot of the punks.I was never a big Germs fan thinking back. I had the album "The Decline Of Western Civilization" when it came out back then and I thought the Germs portion of the record was cool, but I was more of a Circle Jerks, Black Flag kind of guy. I respected the Germs contribution of course and I was amused by Darby's antics, but he always struck me as a Sid Vicious wannabe. I did the same thing. Sid was our hero, don't ask me why. Maybe it was because he was more the anti-hero.Anyway, back to the movie. I have a lot of fond memories of the era and I thought this would be a nice trip down memory lane. I was mistaken. The actors were absolutely cartoonish to the point of laughable. The Darby actor was the only realistic character in the film to my mind, and that's being kind. The Claude Bessy was horrible and the Rodney Bingenheimer was atrocious. I mean Rodney is kinda weird anyway, but this portrayal made me groan OUT LOUD at how bad it was. Come to think of it, the whole movie sucked so much ass that I kept fighting the impulse to turn it off. Shameful and terrible film with the only good thing in the movie being some of the music.If you want Germs info, read the books Lexicon Devil and We Got The Neutron Bomb and watch the Decline movie on Google.
excitement
posted on 13 Jan 2008I am so excited about this movie and very glad to see Shane West in this type of role. This is absolutely amazing work. Everyone should see this film. It is also wonderful that a younger generation will get to see the history behind The Germs and learn about a band that should and will now have a chance to be recognized. This film is long overdue but very much welcomed by myself. The music is mind blowing and the acting is superb. There is so much realism with the scenes of addiction and the struggles the band went through. This is definitely a movie for my generation and many others to enjoy and experience to the fullest. It's made easy to enjoy by the great group of actors involved and their impressive work in this movie.
Enjoyed It and I'm a Geezer ****Minor Spoiler****
posted on 28 Nov 2007Saw it at the Philly Film Festival. Shane and the director were present.Though I'm a rock music fan, I had been completely unfamiliar with 1980s "punk", the scene, Darby Crash and/or The Germs (either incarnation).That being confessed, the movie as all good films do puts us in that world, tries to indoctrinate us as to its "rules" and this allowed me to kick back and experience it vicariously and enjoyably.I enjoyed Shane West very much in his TV roles (Once and Again and ER) and his emerging talent for the "big screen" as both an Actor and Musician was obvious from this film.He was presented an award on the evening I saw this film at the Philly Film Festival as and "Up and Coming Actor (or something) and the award seems fitting.I suspect few people over 45 will enjoy this film as much as I did but I still recommend it to those seeking under-the-radar pleasures, grim though they may be.
Here is some of what happened, politely presented.
posted on 31 Oct 2007Perhaps the be-all dramatization of this place and time is yet to be made, but this is worth seeing. The writer-director was engaged in this labor of love for so long there is hope that the research (first-hand) was thorough enough so that it is not based on rumors and wishful thinking. If it seems a little neat and well defined, we can partly blame the budget. This picture just barely got made. It will not flesh out your drug-addled memories of Sunset Boulevard and may not have any characters based on people you knew. Too bad. You probably just had to be there. If you want just a taste of what it must have been like, it is here, especially the performances (nice job, The Bronx). Given its limitations, it is pretty OK. Also you can let your kids watch it. Nothing too horrible, or at least nothing that isn't going on in every major city all the time. This movie will play well on DVD, improves on second viewing and tells basically how a particular time and place gave rise, very briefly, to THE GERMS. If the survivors aren't complaining, I'm sure not. I'm glad this movie got made. O save me from nostalgia.
confusing yet beautiful
posted on 01 Jul 2007Darby Crash wasn't much of a singer, but from what I understood from the movie he was a great philosopher. His lyrics, his thoughts, his individuality made him stand out and I think that's what drew people to him. But at the same time he knew what the audience wanted and he gave it to them at almost any cost. It's truly a tragic story.Shane West in my opinion did a excellent job, I've seen a few of his films before, so for this one it was a complete transformation for him. You could feel the struggle and see the pain in his eyes as he tried to figure out his life and at the same time was sinking in to deep. This film ignited an interest in me, to learn more about the infamous Derby Crash, the man behind the Germs, the man who simple saw what he wanted and took it without trying, but once he had it, it became too much.
Are you guys kidding?
posted on 30 Jun 2009I'm sorry but this movie is awful. Very surface, poorly made, badly acted- a major disappointment. Shane West is passable, but almost everyone else in the film is bad.And the script- they have taken the seedy, turbulent life of Darby Crash and turned it into an after school special. Actually, after school specials were more interesting than this.I am shocked that Pat Smear and the other surviving members of The Germs would have anything to do with this film. It makes them all seem one dimensional and uninteresting. Stick with Penelope Spheeris' great documentary THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION- it will have to do until a better Germs biopic comes along.