Vulcanizadora, which had its international premiere at the 2024 Fantasia Fest, is a hammer coated with feathers. Soft and delicate, the film revolves around dreamy static takes. Characters come from the distance into the foreground before disappearing again. But when it needs to, Vulcanizadora smacks into your face like a rusty clawhammer, bruising your brain and leaving you reeling.
Marty (Joshua Burge) and Derek (Joel Potrykus) hike through the Michigan woods on their way to a sandy lakeside beach. Derek is a nervous goofball, determined to have a measure of juvenile fun along the way. He has brought a CD player and speakers, junk food and firecrackers. Marty has a grim demeanor, visibly depressed, barely speaking. Marty holds homemade dynamite, powerful enough to shred a metal canteen. He also has two face masks made of metal and parts of leather belts.
Marty and Derek are not likable people. Derek is a whiner, the kind of guy who never quite makes it into the inner circle of friend groups. Marty is a felon. He’s a dangerous man and his overwhelming sadness increases the risk of being around him. Both Marty and Derek have nothing to lose. Together, they’re a volatile combination. These are people you know, whether you want to or not.
What is happening? Is this a BDSM thing? Is the world coming to an end? You’ll not find spoilers here. While the purpose of the hike is not immediately obvious, it is clear that nothing good is about to happen.
Potrykus, who is also the writer and director of Vulcanizadora, owns the film’s first half. His performance as Derek is barely restrained. Derek is twitchy and prone to speak in sound effects (“We could just BWAHHOOOM“). He vacillates between emotions and motivations so quickly, you can almost smell his brain synapses firing. Burge is the perfect foil for Potrykus. As Marty, Burge simmers. Violence lives in his body. There’s the sense that if you breathe wrong, Marty will snap. Burge takes over the second part of the movie. At last, Marty begins to drop his shields and show some humanity. It’s an uncomfortable, stammering transformation and Burge handles it masterfully.
Grappling with Vulcanizadora is not an easy task. Every decision made by the characters is questionable. Nothing the characters expect to happen does. Vulcanizadora is more about repercussions than redemption. Subversively, that story focus makes Vulcanizadora ultra-realistic and grounded. Even if you don’t understand the choices made by Derek and Marty, you sort of get why those decisions were made. We’ve all found ourselves in situations that appear surreal from an outside perspective. Try to explain things and you sound silly. Explaining Vulcanizadora to someone who hasn’t seen it could place you in a similar condition.
Challenging and haunting, Vulcanizadora presents characters who go too far and give up too soon. The film lives in a state of irony, the kind that leads to sadness, not a pop song. Despite the operatic soundtrack and the mellow, almost ambient cinematography, Vulcanizadora is a bludgeon.
Vulcanizadora screened on July 19 at the 2024 Fantasia Fest in Montreal, where it received the Special Jury Mention in the AQCC Competition.