Micro-Wave Cinema presents the multi-faceted documentary on the title’s unique demolition derby
A thrilling mélange of filmmaking styles — including footage from the original Road Rash (1991) video game — define Kurt Walker’s speedy documentary on the stock-car derby that annually assembles in Prince George, British Columbia. Like Here’s to the Future!, the similarly subversive film to last screen as part of the Micro-Wave Cinema Series, Hit 2 Pass was also featured at Brooklyn’s Spectacle Theater last May for its US premiere. Following the presentation at 7:00p on April 3 in 4070 Vilas Hall, Walker will join series curator and host Brandon Colvin for a video Q&A.
Detouring into a cultural niche in the heart of Western Canada about ten hours due north of Seattle, the primary rules of the Auto Racing Association‘s titular autumn race are both distinctively familiar and alien to any American NASCAR faithful. Acceleration is less of a factor than the intention of collision that’s required in order to pass the car ahead. Hit 2 Pass‘ glimpse into a three-week preparation by a father-son team, Dale and Tyson Storozinski, turns the aerodynamic performance strategy one might find in the frugality of a soapbox derby into a daredevil competition in which planning is more about softening the vehicular damage.
Initially frenetic pacing and multi-camera montages during the main event (attached to the cars and high-flying drones, and in the hands of onlooking children) provide a wonderfully broad perspective from the track to the stands and even the greater Prince George area. This approach is tempered, however, in a more pensive and experimental second half that shifts gears from the hardened exteriors of the cars to existential concerns and the grand nature of the trip rather than victory lap celebration.
Spectacle Theater hails Walker’s unassuming approach, capturing images that “hang in memory as if glimpsed from a passing car on a long ride home, like a magic-hour graffito that reads, ‘OIL=DEATH’.” Their further compliments extend to its sincerity and mystery in the landscape of contemporary micro-budget cinema. Derek Godin’s thorough consideration for Dim the House Lights highlights the parallels of the elaborate filmmaking process with that of the Storozinski hot rod. Walker successfully merges these focused procedural scenes with “sequences look like abstract geometrical compositions scored by field recordings,” alluding to a prevailing playfulness.
- Hit 2 Pass plays FREE on Sun, April 3, in 4070 Vilas Hall at 7:00p, with Walker set for a video Q&A. For more information on the Micro-Wave Cinema Series, visit their Facebook community page.