Formulaic, yet fun 'Bunny'

-- Kevin Thomas

"Ten Nights of Dreams." MPAA rating: Unrated. In Japanese with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes. At the ImaginAsian Center, 251 S. Main St., Downtown Los Angeles, (213) 617-1033.

--

The many sides of Darby Crash

"What We Do Is Secret" doesn't ask you to like Darby Crash of the seminal L.A. punk band the Germs. Which makes sense. If asked why he mutilated himself onstage or incited riots at shows, he'd probably answer with a gleeful one-fingered salute on his roller coaster to hell.

First-time writer-director Rodger Grossman bangs out a visceral, energized biopic that captures the vibrant idiocy of punked-out youth and a tortured soul gaining his wish of cult status. The film is far from worshipful of its subject. Grossman allows Crash to be another fool flirting with fascism, an annoying twerp you'd like to strangle but a charismatic one with no inhibitions or fear and a mysterious five-year plan.

Shane West ("E.R.") conveys Crash's bristling, undisciplined intellect, his self-loathing and confusion. He enjoys able support, especially from Rick Gonzalez and Bijou Phillips as bandmates Pat Smear (later of Nirvana) and Lorna Doom, respectively. Several stage performances look live, and a muscular sound mix puts the viewer in those sweaty mosh pits.

The last stop of the wild ride is no secret. The reception to Crash's second band proves the excitement was as much -- or more -- about the scene, the brand-name experience, as anything else. Crash embodies the self-deceiving myth of youthful invulnerability while cultivating the seed of his own supreme vulnerability.

-- Michael Ordona

"What We Do Is Secret." MPAA rating: R for drug use, language and brief sexuality. Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes. At the NuArt, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West L.A., (310) 281-8223; Edwards University Town Center 6, 4245 Campus Drive, Irvine, (949) 854-8818.

--

A not-so pretty look at beauty

Well meaning but as hopelessly smeary as a makeup job applied during a bumper-car ride, "America the Beautiful" is writer-director-host Darryl Roberts' documentary about the pervasiveness of physical ideals, from fashion magazine ads to fragrance production to plastic surgery. But rather than coalesce his large subject into something thought-provoking and pointed, Roberts affects a tone rarely more interesting than low-wattage befuddlement (don't hate yourselves, ladies), carnival-like fascination (what, designer girl-parts?) and the usual readily available excuse to edit footage of pretty women into music-video-style montages.