Punctum Film Club #6: Suburbia (1983)

At the 6th Punctum Film Club we present the debut feature film by "rock 'n roll anthropologist" Penelope Spheeris - Suburbia.

The story begins with Evan escaping from his abusive alcoholic mother. After attending a punk gig, he finds a new home in an abandoned building in the Los Angeles suburbs alongside fellow young runaways. Soon, middle-class families from the neighbourhood notice the unorthodox squatters and decide to drive them away at whatever cost possible.

Suburbia explores themes of youth alienation, generation gap, broken families, violence, all wrapped around the both positive and negative sides of punk subculture. The director Penelope Spheeris wrote Suburbia based on real stories from people around the Los Angeles punk scene, and hired local musicians and youth instead of professional actors (and yes, one of those musicians is the future RHCP founder and bassist Flea) and also included performances by bands D.I., The Vandals and TSOL. She first gained attention in 1981 with The Decline of Western Civilization, a cult documentary film about the LA underground scene, before directing more mainstream films like Wayne's World in the 90s.

Unfortunately, the investor Roger Corman conditioned funding of Suburbia by making it an exploitation film with sexual or violent scenes every 10 minutes, restrospectively lowering its cultural and historical value. Despite that, we still feel that Suburbia is an 80s essential.

19:00 doors
19:30 screening in English with Czech subtitles

Voluntary entry (recommended 100-200)