Hit So Hard

I was expecting something pretty bad considering the bad reviews on it but I always like to make up my own mind. Good thing too because it's quite good. I heard about it listening to Patty's appearance on the I'd Hit That podcast (check it out) and she's quite interesting. I found her brother and mother to be touching, sad and honest too. Watch it.

A star-f**king movie about Courtney and Kurt disguised as a movie about Hole's lesbian drummer. I don't think the people who made this movie are actually very interested in Patty. I suspect they were very interested in Patty's old video. There's a good movie about Patty's life and a good movie about women drummers out there but this isn't it.

Second hope--that it would have lots of good music. I love Hole, but there are only snippets of Hole songs where the lyrics can belabor whatever point the movie's making.

If you're interested in video of Courtney and Kurt, go for it. Otherwise, it's icky watching a messed-up drummer with an interesting past get used.

A film that focuses on Courtney Love's band Hole where Ms. Love is not the out-of-control one may seem like an unlikely premise. But the story of Hole drummer Patty Schemel's rise and fall (OUT of Hole) is beautifully done.

Growing up in a small town outside Seattle, it wasn't long before Schemel and her musician brother Larry became regular fixtures in the Seattle music scene. As the city was becoming the focal point for the new "alternative" movement, Patty and her friend Kurt Cobain were indulging in activities a bit more risky than music. Through home footage and interviews with all three band-mates and a who's who of influential female drummers, Hit So Hard tackles sexism in the music industry, the long and painful process of kicking drugs and the loneliness of being a young lesbian in a conservative town. But by looking at her life from so many facets, the film is ultimately uplifting, moving and powerful. Props to everyone involved. Best SXSW documentary this year.

Hit So Hard (subtitled The Life & Near Death Story Of Patty Schemel) explores the former Hole drummer's career and struggles with addiction, set partially against the backdrop of the rise and fall of the Seattle grunge scene. Director P. David Ebersole combines interviews with Schemel filmed over a period of several years with archival footage, much of it shot by the drummer herself. Ebersole also features extensive interviews with Schemel's former Hole bandmates Courtney Love (lead singer/guitarist), Melissa Auf der Maur (bassist), and Eric Erlandson (guitarist). The entertaining interview segments with the notoriously unpredictable Love show her at various points talking with her mouth full, sitting with her legs splayed over the arms of the chair she's in, and generally just coming across as a train wreck. These portions scream out for Love to get her own feature- length documentary treatment.

Devout Hole fans will likely find much to enjoy in the wealth of behind-the-scenes footage of the band, most of which has never been seen before. For the rest of us, however, it isn't terribly revealing, offering up the standard music visual document of mundane life in the recording studio and on the road in a variety of bus, backstage, and hotel room settings (there's also some decent live footage). One of the subjects Schemel's video camera captured is Kurt Cobain; she stayed at the residence he and Love shared for an extended period, and we see the Nirvana frontman in some private moments with his newborn daughter, as well as singing and playing an acoustic guitar during a brief snippet. These scenes aren't particularly interesting and will only hold some value for Nirvana disciples.

Schemel joined Hole in 1992 and spent six years with the group, playing only on their lauded Live Through This album. The sections discussing the difficult recording sessions for its followup, Celebrity Skin, are some of the film's most interesting, as we find out that all of Schemel's parts were replaced by a studio drummer (although she is credited in the album's liner notes). Despite battling a drug addiction at the time, Schemel maintains her playing was fine and that producer Michael Beinhorn played head games with her, ultimately turning the rest of the band against her (Beinhorn has a history of difficulties working with drummers). Erlandson, Auf der Maur, and Love all agree that working with Beinhorn was an unpleasant experience and now regret their decision not to show more support for their bandmate, who eventually quit. At a question-and-answer session following a Hit So Hard screening last year, Love said Beinhorn was "still a Nazi f**k" after curiously working with him again on Nobody's Daughter, the 2010 Hole album that didn't include Erlandson, Auf der Maur, or Schemel. After leaving the band, Schemel descended further into drug addiction, unable to heed the cautionary tales of friends Cobain and original Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff (who fatally overdosed a couple of months after Cobain's suicide). By the end of the 90s, Schemel's heroin, crystal meth, and crack habits had left her homeless and turning tricks for drug money.

I found it interesting that whether by choice or not, Ebersole's film doesn't include any interviews with either of the surviving members of Nirvana, nor anyone from the other two biggest 90s Seattle bands, Soundgarden or Pearl Jam. A small collection of other 90s alt-rock contemporaries are interviewed, including Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon, Luscious Jackson's Kate Schellenbach, and Roddy Bottum from Faith No More and Imperial Teen. Ebersole also expands the doc's focal point to probe the role of women drummers in rock history, although the fact that two of the principals interviewed are the drummers from The Go-Go's and The Bangles doesn't add much musical credibility to the discussion, quite frankly. In my eyes, a glaringly obvious omission to any discussion of women in rock, particularly because they're actually from Seattle, are Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson. Through Schemel's own experience as a lesbian in the music industry, Ebersole also briefly explores the history of gay women in rock and the adversity they've faced.

The documentary's biggest negative is that it fails to present a fully-formed picture of the drummer's post-Hole life. Schemel recounts calling Love for financial help while homeless, but there's no sense or indication from the interviews with Love, Erlandson, or Auf der Maur of whether or not any of them currently have a relationship with her. They all speak warmly and caringly of Schemel; Auf der Maur, in particular, was quite close with her during their time in the band, and it would have been nice if Ebersole had defined this crucial element. One of the things I enjoyed about the movie was that it didn't deliver a seen- it-before ending where Schemel makes a triumphant return to the music business. We see her sober, happily married, and fulfilled with a newfound career in the dog care business. As Ebersole tells it, Schemel essentially abandoned any serious pursuits in the music industry after getting her life straightened out, occasionally playing in a band with her brother and acting as a drum instructor/mentor to young women. Upon further research, however, I found that the director egregiously failed to include the facts that Schemel actually recorded with Juliette And The Licks (the punk band featuring actress Juliette Lewis), toured with Imperial Teen, and collaborated with Love a couple more times: in a short-lived band called Bastard and again on Love's 2004 America's Sweetheart solo album. On the latter, Schemel co-wrote five songs (incorrectly listed as ten songwriting credits on the album's Wikipedia page) and contributed drum tracks to the project.

Schemel's story should make for a more compelling viewing experience than Hit So Hard delivers. The highly likable musician's colourful and harrowing tale make her a primo documentary subject, but the film's incompleteness undermines the end result.

Ebersole and Hughes manage to avoid all the pitfalls of your average Fall and Rise story. It's incredibly touching without ever being sappy or self-indulgent. What comes across is the story of a really clever, talented, brave woman who you end up rooting for regardless of whether you were a fan or not. You see people rather than icons which is so rare and refreshing. There's also a real story here with some great twists which I won't give away.

If you are a fan (I am) there's just a ton of fascinating footage that really takes you back to that time. The interviews are candid, relaxed and very real which is a testament to the film-makers. Ebersole shows respect for his subjects and it shows. I saw it with a group of friends and we were still talking about it the next day.