Never Goodnight

The documentary of the 2012 trial of three members of Pussy Riot, who were charged with hooliganism after a punk performance in a Moscow cathedral. It follows the court proceedings, their families and the media storm, with footage the group shot themselves. The film shows how a state and a church turn a 40-second protest into a national crisis.

Why it’s here: It's a punk protest watched by a whole country. What's punk is the defendants' refusal to apologize, and their families who stand by them. What's pedagogical is the courtroom: how a trial becomes theater, and who writes the charges. Pairs with Pussy Riot! A Punk Prayer for Freedom (suggested today), Citizenfour and The Future Is History. Note: the group's views and later work are debated; this film stops at the 2012 trial. English and Russian with subtitles.

Otto, a Los Angeles punk with no job and no plans, gets taken on as a car repossessor by an older man who tells him 'the repo code'. They chase a Chevy Malibu with something glowing in the trunk. It is a sci-fi, punk, anti-Reagan comedy with a soundtrack by Iggy Pop, Black Flag and Circle Jerks, and its cult status is earned.

Why it’s here: The film is a punk movie that is also about work: Otto's choices are between a supermarket job and a life of taking things from people who can't pay. What's punk is the whole picture: the soundtrack, the generic-labeled cans and the contempt for consumer life. What's pedagogical is its satire of Reaganism and the Cold War. Pairs with Please Kill Me, England's Dreaming and Our Band Could Be Your Life. Note: it is crude, has plenty of 1980s-style violence and casual slurs by characters; older teens and up.