A fitting end to the trilogy

The final installment of Penelope Spheeris' underground music-oriented documentary trilogy, this installment focuses on gutter punks living in LA in the late 90s. The first installment centered on the early hardcore punk scene circa 1980, showing the bands and fans alike to be disillusioned and disaffected, nihilistic, and self-destructive. The second film dealt with the late 80s metal scene, turning the camera on bands and fans who were more hedonistic but also oddly optimistic, yearning for fame and success and certain that both lay just around the corner.

Released in 1998, the series returns to the punk scene, particularly emphasizing teenage fans of the music. Like the earlier punk cohort, they're disillusioned with society and prone to cope with drugs and alcohol, but where the punks of the first documentary seemed prone to unfocused aggression, those in this third part are more vocally political. They can name the societal sources of their anguish: racism, sexism, fascism, and religion used as a tool of oppression. They come across as much more aware of the injustices of their environment (one could even say "woke") than their reflexively rebellious predecessors.

While still present, musicians are featured less heavily than the homeless group of fans. They're just kids clinging together, mostly fleeing indifferent or abusive households. Few of them can conceive a future for themselves, with many of them unable to imagine even still living five years from the time of their interviews. One interviewee dies over the course of the documentary from a squat house fire, and a postscript to the film states that one of the more charming interviewees was stabbed to death shortly after filming with the murder suspect also appearing in the movie. This documentary hit particularly hard, because I was the exact same age as these homeless teens when they were being interviewed, living a very different life (not problem-free, but much less tenuous). Even more than with the first two installments, this movie made me wonder how life turned out for these kids, if any of them were able to find something better for themselves.