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Hole was a big deal to me when I was a teenager. I wore out their album, “Live Through This,” when it came out in 1994. I saw them play Lollapalooza in 1995 and  songs like  ’Miss World‘ or ‘Violet‘  instantly transport me back to  the time when  strong, outspoken woman rockers dominated the music charts.   Hit So Hard  perfectly documents my beloved  grunge era  while pulling back the curtain on some of the truly troubled individulas who made all of  that  memorable music.

Patty Schemel may not be the person you  picture when you think of Hole, but as the group’s troubled yet oddly  level-headed drummer she was the undercover heart and soul of the band. Unfortunately she was also   developing a dangerous  drug addiction while learning to navigate the murky waters of being part of a hit rock band with a mecurial lead singer.  That makes her a particularly compelling subject for  Hit So Hard, a documentary that not only recounts  her life, but also her near death at the hands of the very thing she loved more than anything: music.

With this  exhaustive examination of the factors that went into feeding Patty’s addictions, director P. David Ebersole is able to tap into that particular period in music history with an eye for what made it so special and also what made it so detrimental for those who were at the centre of it. Unfettered access to Patty’s home movies allow for a peek into her world:  candid backstage banter between bandmates;  sweet footage  of Kurt Cobain playing with his baby daughter mere months before his death; and scene after scene of both the (ahem) highs and lows of life on the road. It’s sad, it’s transfixing and when you see how Schemel has managed to pull herself  out of the gutter (literally), it’s extremely inspiring.

Hit So Hard screens on Friday, May 18, 2012. Check the Inside Out website for details.

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Kristal Cooper

Editor-in-Chief

Kristal Cooper has been a film buff since the age of two when her parents began sneaking her into the drive-in every weekend. Since then, she’s pursued that passion by working for the Toronto International Film Festival and the Canadian Film Centre as well as spending many a happy hour inside Toronto’s wonderful theatres (she still mourns the loss of The Uptown). She currently acts as Toronto Film Scene’s Editor-in-Chief, is a freelance writer specializing in pop culture and feminist issues, and continues to slog away at her day job as a small cog in the giant machinery of the Toronto film community.

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