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Fantasia 2024: Vulcanizadora Review
Loading...Directed by: Joel Potrykus
Written by: Joel Potrykus
Starring:
Joshua Burge – Martin Jackitansky
Joel Potrykus – Derek Skiba
Bill Vincent – Gar Jackitansky
Solo Potrykus – Jeremy
Melissa Blanchard – Lynn
Running Time: 85 minutes
Not Rated
Dark comedy is one of the most difficult film genres to get right. Comedy in general is subjective enough as it is, but trying to use humor to journey into difficult territory is an absolute tightrope walk. It’s too easy to crash and burn – and yet if you can pull it off, you’ve created a film that will truly stay with people.
Joel Potrykus achieves that rare feat with Vulcanizadora. The Michigan filmmaker’s fifth feature film, which screened at Fantasia Fest on Friday, is a follow-up to his 2014 indie hit Buzzard. But you don’t have to have seen that slacker comedy to understand this one, which brings Buzzard’s characters forward a decade to funny, tragic, and deeply affecting results.
The film stars Burge and Potrykus, reprising their roles as Marty and Derek. In the years since the events of that film, their lives have changed even if they haven’t necessarily kept up. Derek has an ex-wife and a young son, while Marty is in legal trouble again – though this time, the charges appear to have progressed beyond just check schemes.
As the film opens, Marty and Derek are hiking their way through the woods of Michigan toward an unknown goal. Derek amiably natters along as they hike to their destination, while Marty is quieter and more acerbic. Derek points out that Marty doesn’t have any camping gear with him, and when he mentions setting a fire Marty counters in no uncertain terms that there isn’t going to be on.
As it turns out, there will be a fire and that won’t be the only surprise that comes. Derek tries to keep the conversation going, possibly just so they aren’t hiking in silence, and tries to film Marty firing a bottle rocket at him although it doesn’t work out how he intended. The closer they get to their destination, the antsier they get until even Derek’s awkward attempts at banter has a hard time hiding what’s in store.
The duo’s ultimate plan is at the crux of Vulcanizadora, and it’s at the moment of enactment that everything turns on a dime. Potrykus is so good at playing Derek’s socially awkward metalhead vibes off of Burge’s sullen Marty that the first half of the film lures us in with comedic beats. There’s something almost Beavis & Butthead-like with these two losers, and cinematographer Adam J. Minnick’s 16mm longshots play that up. These are just two absolute nimrods on a hike in the woods, beating up trees and digging up old porno magazines; what can go wrong?
Of course, the film does have a big reveal and the way it plays out is jaw-droppingly shocking. This moment sends the film tailspinning into existential themes about fears of adulthood, failure, and how (and more importantly, if) you can come back from certain mistakes. We all have things we want to take back, and in our youth everything seems fixable. How do you deal with the things you can’t fix and can’t undo?
Potrykus is tackling some heavy content here, and it all feels very personal because it is. But it’s to his credit that there’s a lot of dark humor, even in the back half. A less nuanced filmmaker wouldn’t be able to handle the sudden snap in tones that takes place in the middle of the film, but it never feels jarring – at least, not in unintended ways.
Ultimately, Vulcanizadora rests its laurels on Potrykus and Burge’s ability to make us relate to these two middle-aged slackers. If we’re drawn in by them, it makes facing the questions their journey dredges up all the harder to brush aside. It makes for a bleak but frank viewing experience, one that leaves its audience pondering some big questions about our road through life.
The Fantasia International Film Festival takes place in Montreal from July 18th through August 4th.
