Suburbia is a 1980’s film directed by Penelope Spheeris. The film opens up with a teenager, Sheila, hitchhiking on the Interstate and picked up by a lady with a toddler in the front seat. The lady’s tire goes flat so they found a telephone booth to call for help. While she is on the phone, her toddler gets attacked and killed by a viscous dog. The film then switches scenes to a teenage boy, Evan, who is living in a house with his mother and little brother. His mother is an alcoholic and Evan was tired of her behavior, so he decided to leave. He tells his little brother he will see him again soon. Evan walked around the streets until he found himself at a punk rock concert. He grabs a drink and while talking to another guy, a pill is slipped inside his drink. When the concert ends, Even leaves with Jack Diddley and stays at a place called the T.R. house. T. R. stood for The Rejected. The outside of the house was covered in spray paint. The inside was disgusting with rats and cockroaches crawling around everywhere. There were several teenagers staying at the house because they also had run away from home with no place to stay.
The following morning, the teenagers are awakened by gun shots taking place outside of the T.R. house. The teenagers look out the window to discover two men shooting at the group of viscous dogs that live in the neighborhood. The police show up to the scene and one of the cops happens to be Jack’s stepdad. The two men who were shooting and killing the dogs, Jim and Bob, demand the police to take a look inside the T.R. house. However, Jack’s stepdad doesn’t feel that is necessary. The teenagers don’t have any money for food, so they steal food from the garages of local houses. When they get back to the T.R. house, Evan sees on TV that his mother was arrested by drunk driving. He immediately decides to go get his brother out of his mother’s house and brings him to the T.R. house to live with him.
After hearing that the teenagers are continuing to get in trouble around town, Jack’s stepdad pays a visit to the T.R. house and begs them to stay out of trouble. Later that day, Bill and Jim broke into the house to threaten the teenagers and assault Sheila in the process. The next morning, Sheila kills herself by overdosing on pills. The teenagers take Sheila’s dead body to her parent’s house. Next, Sheila’s family has a funeral for her, and the teenagers attend. Soon after the funeral started, Sheila’s mom requests the teens leave, which led to a huge brawl. Later on, Bill and Jim get into a fight with the teenagers outside the T.R. house. The film ends when Evan’s little brother accidentally gets ran over and killed by Bill and Jim.
Given Suburbia was made in 1983, there are a lot of things that could have made this film better, but one of the main things is the acting. I found it interesting that Penelope Spheeris chose to use real punk rock teenagers that she found on the street to play each role, instead of using actors. So after discovering this, it made me respect the film more. Suburbia allowed the audience to see what life was like for runaway punk rock teenagers and how they expressed their selves through their clothing and unique haircuts. I will note that I didn’t expect the film to end the way it did. While watching certain films, it can sometimes be obvious as to how the film is going to end. However, the killing of the little boy was something I don’t think any viewer was expecting. I didn’t exactly understand the overall message of the movie, because of how it ended. Overall, I thought Suburbia was a pretty decent film.
