Since punk films are going the a thing here, we might as well start with Penelope Spheeris's Suburbia, now broadly recognized as a cult classic. In fact, you have little chance if you search for a movie in which punks are depicted as actual human beings and not parodies of themselves, as Hollywood-esque appropiations of the topic helplessly seem to produce. This is gold: a solid action-packed movie which stands on itself by numerous reasons, from characters to script and direction. Yet, it didn't even make a blip in the radar at releasing time; a low budgeted, amateur casted, shot in six weeks movie depicting the raw life of ragtag teens squatting a cockroach-infested suburbian dump in California simply wasn't on the public's menu at the time, I guess. Yet, all of these characteristics are the glory of Suburbia if you ask me.
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| In line for D.I |
By this 1983 piece, Penelope Spheeris was fluent in the Californian punk scene, since her amazing The Declive Of Western Civilization (1981) had pretty much granted her knowledge of all relevant bands and deeds until that year, from Black Flag and X to the last homeless gutter punk of L.A. In fact, you get up to three live performances of actual bands in Suburbia, including The Vandals and T.S.O.I. and that's a deal maker. Is any of this relevant? Well, apparently Spheeris casted actual punks without acting experience from clubs and concerts all over the place; only adults are career actors in this movie. The fact that none of these kids had to fake any kind of exageratted or faux 'punk attitude' favored them over professionals, to a stunning degree. Even if sometimes wooden and inexpressive, that's for the better given plot and characterization: it's just effective. In fact, Suburbia is representative of something most so called industry-professionals will never recognize: the do it yourself approach can make beautiful things for you. Not only actors but stage design was too conjured out of thin air: the T.R.'s squatter house was the result of giving all actors posters, clubs and spry cans to work with.
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| Skinner ponders wether to leave or not |
Same with clothing: an understanding eye will recognize it does not resemble the simple and generic 'punk uniform' of expensive clothing, typical of reasonably-budgeted movies, and usually put on attractive and fashionable young actors. Here they simply used their usual clothes, most of them being quite cheap and to the point. An array of styles, from the bohemian look of addict Keef (Grant Miner) to the skinhead basics of Skinner (Timothy O'Brien) or conventionally punk Jack Diddley (Chris Pedersen). Not ugly, nor too pretty: they are everyday people. Each character suggested their own stunts and gags, adapting them to a realistic script based on local news reports concerning runaway squatter communities. Its being inspired by actual reports and well-known facts about squatting gangs stripped out any idealization of the runaways, which in turns benefits the films as a whole.
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| Left: T.S.O.L. | Right: Sheila's father has guests |
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| Sheila transitions to R.T. |
Plot goes as it follows: Evan (Bill Coyne) abandons his home given the violent temper of his alcoholic mother, and his just being sitting at home waiting for the good times to start. Quick shots reveal to us an intelligent camera direction, as his younger brother -and eventually recluted- Ethan (Andrew Pece) switchs on a TV displaying American troops. Eventually Evan gets drown to a crowded punk concert where lots of bad doodoo happen. One, a new-wave girl attending the concert gets forcely undressed by the pricky and troubled Skinner in an actually harsh scene which ends up canceling the show. Secondly, Evan gets his drink inadvertly drugged (for free, as the trope says) by Keef and ends up vomiting on a ditch. The cool-headed Jack rescues him, recognizing a runaway kid from a mile ago, and takes him to the squatter house where he actually lives after having deserted his own home, given the second marriage of his mother with a cop and issues of his own. After picking up runaway Joe Schmo (Wade Walston), who detests living with his gay dad's partner (perhaps the weakest excuse of any member of the squatters but hey, those were the times) and getting through the hordes of rabid abandoned dogs who surround the area, they finally arrive to the squatter headquarters, where a gang of street kids call themselves T.R. (standing for The Rejected), live in common and get themselves marked (actually, 'burned') these initials in order to avoid leeches. There they meet Sheila (Jennifer Clay), just signing up after a failed hitchhiking attempt in which a little girl gets killed by a wild black dog. Plus, she has a very fucked up story of family abuse. By this point you get to know everyone, basically: including Razzle (played by Flea of the Red Hot Chile Peppers) who has a rat pet and tries to domesticate runaway dogs, or punk goofballs T'resa and Mattie with their many a way of wasting time. Noteworthy how subtely you get to know about the vulnerability in all these characters, which really sets apart Suburbia from most mainstream punk films (which heavily rely on comic relief and posed aggresivity) to this very day.
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| A foreseeing moment between Sheila and Ethan |
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| Guess what? Chicken butt! |
From that point on, you would call it (as many do) a quite special slice of life; the group raids neighbourhoods and stores to get food, patrols the area and pretty much tries to keep together and alive whenever possible. From the charming 'TV camping' on a Mall to street beatings, progression is made until a more serious tone arises when trouble with vigilante groups of the neighbourhood becomes real. Two trigger-happy 'gun-enthusiasts' with dangerous proclivities depicted as low-middle class white guys running low on money and self-steem remind us the stark American context, as they provide a nemesis unmatched in the context of so many British-punk movies. While the kids themselves are no saints -in fact they vandalize and steal in a quite antiheroic fashion-, the risk of them getting killed becomes palpable very quickly. Only a black cop (Donald V. Allen), which incidentally happens to be Jack's stepfather, tries to help the kids but mainly they've learned all adults want them dead, and decide to resist alone the dangerous duo's 'life advice'. Yet, the unexpected comes with Sheila's suicide, a dramatic and well-archieved peak on the movie which furthers the group's determination to stay as the vigilante's anti-squatter mood scalates too. As R.T.'s characters can do no less than punish Sheila's sleazy father at the funeral, they provide the perfect excuse for the vigilantes to streak with a quite plausible fight scene which leads to nothing but the murder of the most innocent and vulnerable character of the movie.
Not relying heavily on any lead character or event to further plot, Suburbia's script appears minimalistic, yet it does serve as a means to present scenes and developments as end in themselves. This particular feature makes it for a double exposure: take Suburbia's rawness, its atmosphere and stand-alone scenes on themselves (each one having its charm, granted) as a realistic depiction of how teen runaways struggle to survive in a dump and its commentary on marginalization, gun control, suicide, etc., or take it as a hidden literary device leading to a traumatic climax without resolution.
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