VULCANIZADORA (2024)

New On Demand from Oscilloscope Laboratories!
Directed/Written by Joel Potrykus.
Check out the trailer here!!

VULCANIZADORA means tire repair shop (I looked it up). Which makes sense because one of the two characters of this film is on the run because he doesn’t want to appear in court for a fire he started at a local tire shop. Marty (played by Joshua Burge) and Derek (played by writer/director Joel Potrykus) go on a hiking trip through a Michigan forest and plan on going through with a strange pact.

VULCANIZADORA is labeled in some places as horror, though it barely can be categorized as one. The film is basically a slice of lifer slash mumblecore character study of two strange guys who don’t seem to fit into the world they live in. These are two guys that would make you get up and move if they sat next to you on the bus. They’re freaks. Oddballs. But the longer you stay with them, the more you end up warming up to them. Derek is the more positive of the two, playfully treating this jaunt through the woods as a grand adventure and filling the silence of the woods with his constant rambling about this or that. I don’t know if this is how writer/director Potrykus is, or if he’s just good at playing the manic character, but through his unending blather, he ends up being a pretty compelling character and I ended up liking the misfit by the end. On the opposite side is Marty played by Burge), who silently accompanies Derek, occasionally blurting out a grunt or short reply where one can be fit in. The bulk of the movie follows these two oddballs bounding through the countryside in search of something that is kept quiet until much deeper into this journey. Both actors are not conventional stars but offer up complex and intriguing performances bouncing off of one another, feeling like a more modern version of OF MICE AND MEN at times, with Derek playing the child-like Lenny and Marty embodying the stoic George.

Things do get very dark by the time this trip is through. While it takes its sweet, old time—a time that many might nope out from before it gets there, the climactic scene on the beach with Marty and Derek is riveting. There is a nice, ominous build to this scene, but it still comes as a shock. The moments leading up to this climax grow more painful, as it becomes more obvious what is transpiring. The final leg of the movie feels slightly overlong, but VULCANIZADORA does end in a satisfying, yet somber and depressing end.

Look for some really gnarly effects shots by the time this one is through, and the tension does reach a fever pitch, taking the viewer into a very uncomfortable and pitch-black place by the time its all over. If you’re looking to ruin a mood, VULCANIZADORA has some phenomenal performances that’ll do that capably. It’s more arthouse than I was expecting and more slice of life than I normally like to go for. Despite being heartwarming and downright funny at times, VULCANIZADORA ends up being a nihilistic look at a cruel world that does not favor the outcasts. There is horror to be found in this one but it takes an awful time to get to this one’s explosive end. Recommended for those with patience and a taste for tragic films that tiptoe on the edge of real-life horror.