Punk's Not Dead is showing at the Brattle Theatre through the weekend and on Monday. Check the theater's website for showtimes.

The documentary Punk's Not Dead has so much to say and so clearly loves the music of the punk movement. Its passion for the subject matter blinds the filmmakers, though, and the movie loses focus, splitting apart into different fragments, suggesting that it would have been better as a PBS series or a shorter movie.

The movie starts off with a little punk history, along with some great action photos from classic punk shows. Then the filmmakers follow members of punk bands who are still on tour, such as the UK Subs and the Adicts. This segment should be called, "Punk's not dead. It's just getting old!" Even though these bands never broke big, the aging members still retain their dignity. No one could ever accuse them of selling out, but it does make the viewer wonder if punk ages well.

After evaluating the Hot-Topic version of punk championed by acts like Sum-41 and throwing in some gratuitous clips from television shows (ranging from The OC to CHiPs, the documentary shows clips from punk bands all over the world. At this point, filmmaker Susan Dynner proves her point that punk is still alive, but it seems to be thriving more in other nations than in the United States.

Other movies about the punk movement focus in tightly on specific bands. New York Doll traces the rise, fall, and surprising rise of Arthur "Killer" Kane. End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones zoned in on the Johnny vs. Joey rivalry. To its credit, Punk's Not Dead doesn't rehash the oft-told stories of The Ramones, the New York Dolls, or the Sex Pistols, but it could have emphasized the UK Subs or the Adicts to answer the question of what really happened to the lesser-known bands.

Punk's Not Dead gives a broad overview of what's going on with punk right now among the multiple generations affected by the punk movement. Someone who loves today's pop-punk music and who would like to learn more about where it came from - especially if they want to learn more about the real punk lifers - will appreciate this. But if you've seen the more recent documentaries about the punk movement, Punk's Not Dead is a little too ambitious to be satisfying.