Vulcanizadora (2024) Review: Deadpan Comedy, Real Grief

Is Vulcanizadora worth watching?

Yes. Vulcanizadora is a startling American indie that begins as an absurd, deadpan buddy comedy and deepens into one of the most honest films about guilt and despair in recent years. Joel Potrykus gets laughs from a premise that should not be funny, then turns the same flat style towards real sorrow without a false note. The main caution is the subject itself: this is a film about a suicide pact, and its bleakness will be too much for some viewers.

What is Vulcanizadora about?

Two old friends, Derek (Joshua Burge) and Marty (Potrykus), hike into a Michigan forest carrying backpacks and camping gear. They bicker, mess around and waste time like teenagers on a camping trip, but they are middle-aged men, and they have come to the woods to carry out a pact to end their lives. When the plan goes wrong in an unexpected way, the film follows what comes after, and the story becomes something quite different from the one it seemed to be.

Written and directed by Potrykus, Vulcanizadora is an American film in English, running a tight 85 minutes. Bill Vincent and Solo Potrykus appear in supporting roles.

Comedy in the shadow of death

The first half is built on the rhythms of slacker comedy. Marty is loud, restless and obsessed with petty distractions; Derek is quiet, sad and withdrawn. Their conversations circle aimlessly around nothing in particular, and Potrykus, who has worked in this deadpan, lo-fi register throughout his career, finds a strange, awkward humour in two men killing time while planning to kill themselves.

The comedy is not a trick or a cruelty. It reflects how people in crisis actually behave, deflecting with jokes, bravado and trivia rather than talking about what is really wrong. The laughs make the characters recognisable, and that recognition is what gives the later scenes their force.

Joshua Burge’s quiet devastation

Burge, a regular collaborator of Potrykus, gives a remarkable performance. His Derek barely speaks, and much of the film rests on his gaunt, watchful face and slumped posture. As the story moves on, Burge conveys layers of shame, grief and confusion with minimal dialogue, and his stillness becomes almost unbearable to watch. It is a performance of great restraint that never asks for pity.

Potrykus is equally good in a very different mode, his manic energy the perfect counterweight to Burge’s silence. Their chemistry, built over years of working together, makes the friendship feel lived-in, full of old jokes and resentments that need no explanation.

Scrappy craft, full-strength emotion

The film is made on a small scale, and it shows in its sparse locations and plain, unfussy images. Rather than limiting the film, this shoestring quality sharpens its effect: nothing feels staged or glossy, so the turn into sorrow feels as unpolished and real as life. The forest settings are beautiful in a muted, damp way, and silence is used as pointedly as any line of dialogue.

If there is a reservation, it is that the film’s opening stretch of aimless banter may test viewers before they understand what it is building towards, and the abrupt tonal change is deliberately disorienting. But the structure is the point, and the payoff is worth the patience.

Who should watch Vulcanizadora?

It suits viewers who appreciate independent cinema, dark comedy that takes its subject seriously, and stories about male friendship and mental health. It is short but emotionally heavy. The film deals directly with suicide, suicidal thoughts and guilt, and viewers who are struggling with those issues may want to approach it with care or skip it. There is also strong language and some disturbing imagery.

Related viewing:

• Come See Me in the Good Light, for another film that finds unexpected humour while staring directly at mortality.
• The General, Buster Keaton’s classic, for the stone-faced comic tradition that Potrykus’s deadpan style descends from.
• More titles on the comedy shelf, where the darker, stranger entries tend to be the most rewarding.

The verdict

Vulcanizadora is a daring, funny and profoundly sad film that uses deadpan comedy to reach a place of real emotional truth. Its scrappy style and bleak subject will not be for everyone, but for those willing to follow it, it is one of the most affecting American independent films of its year.

Rating: 4.7/5