Director-editor P. David Ebersole’s “Hit So Hard: The Life And Near Death Story of Patty Schemel” is a raucous documentary about a figure from the band Hole just as strong as notorious bandleader Courtney Love, drummer Patty Schemel. Schemel’s home movies, preserved as a carrying case of Hi-8 videotapes, provide pronounced muscle to the bone-hard construction of the film, illustrating more than one meaning to a familiar phrase: “live through this.” The video imagery is a profuse mess, unselfconsciously mirroring the slur-and-drang sound the band accomplished. Drug addiction is swept to the side by testimony to Schemel’s importance as a musician and as an openly lesbian rock ‘n’ roll figure. Emotionally raw, and with many thrilling moments, this is a near-tragedy of a life gone right. The contemporary interviews are sturdy and on point. Beware: there’s a surfeit of Courtney Love talking with her mouth so full. With Schemel, now sober and now a puppy-loving redhead life force. Love, Eric Erlandson, Melissa Auf der Maur, Gina Schock, Drew Barrymore, Roddy Bottum, Nina Gordon, Debbi Peterson, Phranc, Kate Schellenbach, Dallas Taylor, Sarah Vowell, Kurt Cobain. A lovely end-credit sequence of women reciting meaningful female drummers includes Jessica Hopper. 103m. (Ray Pride)
Talking Screens, December 16-22, 2022: "All The Beauty and The Bloodshed" is One of the Year's Finest | "Bardo" is a Small Story Told on an… "Avatar: The Way of Water," "All The Beauty and The Bloodshed," "The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari" and "Bardo." PLUS: Bresson's "Au Hasard Balthazar," Andersson's "About Endlessless"; FACETS' "Holiday Detour" series; Chicago filmmaker-in-residence Daniel Nearing's "Sister Carrie" with an orchestra at Siskel; "The Thirty-Ninth Christmas Sing-A-Long & Double Feature" at the Music Box and Music Box Of Horrors and Shudder pull…
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