Border Radio

Written and directed by Allison Anders, Dean Lent, and Kurt Voss, Border Radio is the story of a journalist who asks a couple of friends to help her find her husband who had stolen money at a music club and has disappeared. The film is a road film of sorts set in Southern California and Mexico as it play into a woman dealing with her husband’s disappearance as she and her daughter try to find him with the help of his friends. Starring Chris D., Luanna Anders, John Doe, and Chris Shearer. Border Radio is an offbeat yet engrossing film from Allison Anders, Dean Lent, and Kurt Voss.

The film is a simple story about a punk rock musician who had stolen money from a crooked promoter with a couple of friends only to disappear afterwards to Mexico where many are asking about the money. It’s a film with a simple premise from its writers in Allison Anders, Dean Lent, and Kurt Voss as it also include improvised dialogue from its cast. Mainly as it play into this musician’s wife who learns that her husband has disappeared over the money he stole prompting her to find him where a young roadie and a musician join in the search as they had helped him steal the money and want their cut. Things get complicated in the search with one of them eventually finding the musician Jeff Bailey (Chris D.) who went to Mexico to deal with his own issues knowing that his marriage is already rocky.

The film’s direction by Anders, Lent, and Voss with Lent being the film’s cinematographer as it is shot in grainy black-and-white 16mm film stock is simple as well as offbeat in its approach towards film noir. Though the film does have a traditional narrative structure, the heist flashback is put in the middle where the directors would emphasize on this mixture of fiction and documentary as many of the characters in the film are interviewed to talk about what Bailey did including his wife Lu (Luanna Anders) who is a journalist that has been disappointed with Bailey’s music and not being around much for their daughter Devon (Devon Anders). There are some hand-held camera shots in the film where Anders, Lent, and Voss emphasize mainly on medium shots and close-ups as it relate to the characters with some wide shots on the locations as it play into this music scene in Los Angeles where much of the film is shot.

Even as the direction play into these odd moments that mixes humor and drama to play with the conventions of film nor as well as its aftermath where the editing by the trio add to the film’s tone in terms of its usage of jump-cuts. Overall, the trio of Anders, Lent, and Voss crafts a quirky yet compelling film about a punk musician who flee to Mexico with stolen money leaving his wife and friends to try and find him.

The sound work of Nietzchka Keene and mixing by Duane Dell’Amico is terrific for the natural sound in its presentation as well as how live music and such sound on a location. The film’s music by Dave Alvin is excellent for its punk-rock based score that has elements of ambient in some parts while the soundtrack features music from many acts from Los Angeles in the punk rock and alternative rock scene from acts such as X, Los Lobos, the Flesh Eaters, Green on Red, the Divine Horsemen, Billy Wisdom and the Hee Shees, the Blasters, and X bassist John Doe.

The film’s superb ensemble cast include some notable small roles from Texacala Jones as a dim-witted babysitter, Chuck Shepard as an American expatriate Bailey meets in Mexico, Julie Christensen as a door girl for a music club, Iris Berry as a scenester who knows a lot about the L.A. music scene in the 1980s, Devon Anders as Lu and Bailey’s daughter Devon, and Chris Shearer as a former bandmate of Bailey in Chris who chats with Lu about music. John Doe is excellent as Dean as a former bandmate of Bailey who took part in the robbery only to have a bad encounter with thugs as he tries to help Lu despite their contentious relationship.

Dave Alvin is fantastic as Dave as a friend of Bailey who also took part in the robbery as he tries to woo Lu. Luann Anders is brilliant as Lu as Bailey’s wife who is also a journalist that is frustrated with their marriage as she tries to find him over the money he stole as well as the chaos of his life. Finally, there’s Chris D. in an amazing performance as Jeff Bailey as a punk rock musician who stole money from a crooked promoter and flees to Mexico by himself where he copes with the direction of his own life both professionally and personally.

Border Radio is a marvelous film from Allison Anders, Kurt Voss, and Dean Lent. Featuring a great cast, a captivating premise, and a killer music soundtrack, it’s a film that play into the conventions of film noir while focusing on the fallacy of crime in the L.A. punk rock/alternative music scene of the late 1980s. In the end, Border Radio is a remarkable film from Allison Anders, Kurt Voss, and Dean Lent.

Allison Ander Films: (Gas Food Lodging) – (Mi Vida Loca) – Four Rooms-The Missing Ingredient - (Grace of My Heart) – (Sugar Town) – (Things Behind the Sun) – (A Crush on You) – (Ring of Fire (2013 film)) – (Beaches (2017 film))

© thevoid99 2018

The Decline of Western Civilization

Written and directed by Penelope Spheeris, The Decline of Western Civilization is a film that documents the Los Angeles punk rock scene from 1979 to 1980. The film explores not just the bands of that scene that include the Germs, the Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Fear, X, and other acts but also the people in the scene and their disdain for the authority and the upper-class in Los Angeles. The result is one of the most compelling and fierce films about the world of punk rock.

Shot from December of 1979 to May of 1980, the film chronicles the punk rock scene in Los Angeles at its peak along with the emergence of the hardcore punk scene that the Circle Jerks and Black Flag would be a part of. The film doesn’t just explore the culture of punk but also the bands at the epicenter of this movement at a time when Los Angeles was transitioning out of the singer-songwriter, country-rock sound that defined the 70s. Along with bands like the Germs, X, and Fear as well as a couple of obscure acts like Alice Bag Band and Catholic Discipline, director Penelope Spheeris captures a scene that is violent, unruly, and exciting.

Among these elements are the bands where they play loud and fast with very little regard for structure or anything that is traditional though a band like X are able to show more than what they can offer within the genre. While these bands do get a following, Spheeris reveal that they don’t live comfortably as the members of Black Flag reveal that they live and rehearse in an abandoned church where vocalist Ron Reyes pays $16 for rent as he sleeps in a closet. It shows that these bands would have to spend money to promote themselves while some like Black Flag and the Germs would have difficulty getting gigs where their performances are in studios as opposed to clubs due to notoriety they’ve done at the clubs.

The film also showcases the scene itself where its audience are unruly yet these are kids who come from broken homes or feel like outcasts as they need something to let out their aggression. Spheeris, along with cinematographer Steve Contant and sound recordist Alan Kutner, would capture these moments as they’re in the mosh pits and having the camera be at the center of the action as well as on the stage. Though some of the bands encourage the violence while the most notorious is Fear and its front man Lee Ving who antagonizes the audience with anything he says. Another aspect of the scene that is shown is the Slash fanzine that is run by Catholic Discipline vocalist Claude Bessy about punk rock and the scene itself where it would later become the famed record label that would expose not just the bands in the film but also other notable alternative acts like Los Lobos, L7, Failure, and the Violent Femmes.

With the help of editor Charlie Mullin, Spheeris would capture the moments that occur offstage in the interviews with some of the bands with Germs vocalist Darby Crash being among one of the most interesting in how he would often be loaded in his performance. The interview with other band members and some fans as it’s shot in black-and-white doesn’t just reveal why they’re part of the culture but also reveal the tension they have the LAPD. Especially as it relates to these kids and their disdain for authority as the LAPD were quite brutal at the time. What Spheeris succeeds in doing is not hold anything back as she isn’t seen on camera though her voice is heard in the interviews where there are some revelations to a music scene that just wants to be different from everything else that was happening. Even if it is unruly and chaotic where it would set the stage for an emerging subculture in the history of punk that would spread all over the country for much of the 1980s.

The Decline of Western Civilization is a remarkable film from Penelope Spheeris. For anyone interested in the L.A. punk scene of the late 70s should see this as a look of that scene and the bands from that era. Especially the ones that would create a legacy and those who didn’t last long but did offer something that was important. In the end, The Decline of Western Civilization is a sensational film from Penelope Spheeris.

Penelope Spheeris Films: (Uncle Tom’s Fairy Tales) - (Suburbia (1984 film)) - (The Boy Next Door (1985 film)) - (Hollywood Vice Squad) - (Dudes) - The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years - (Thunder and Mud) - (Wayne’s World) - (The Beverly Hillbillies (1993 film)) - (Little Rascals (1994 film)) - (Black Sheep) - The Decline of Western Civilization III - (Senseless) - (Hollyweird) - (We Sold Our Souls to Rock N’ Roll) - (The Kid & I) - (Balls to the Wall)

© thevoid99 2015