Butler's Cinema Scene

Patti Schemel

“HIT SO HARD” My rating: B- (Opening May 18 at the Screenland Crossroads)

minutes | No MPAA rating

By all rights, Patty Schemel should have died a long time ago.

It’s no coincidence that this documentary about her from director P. David Ebersole is subtitled: “The Life & Near Death Story of Patty Schemel.”

Schemel, the drummer for the band Hole during its “Live Through This” era, had a monumental drug habit that had her flirting with death, living on the street and turning tricks to survive.

Somehow she came through it all with her humor and wry perspective on life intact.

“Hit So Hard” is really two movies in one. First it’s the story of a girl who grew up gay in a disapproving small town and turned to drink and drugs at age 14. That’s the sort of life that can turn a girl tough and hard, which made Schemel the perfect drummer for Courtney Love’s band Hole back in the early ’90s. But Schemel was unceremoniously kicked out of the band and went on a harrowing downward spiral.

Curt Cobain, Courtney Love

The good news: She’s been clean for several years.

Schemel’s story is told by herself and others, particularly musicians like The Go-Go’s Gina Schock, the Bangles’ Debbi Peterson, Luscious Jackson’s Kate Schellenbach, and especially Courtney Love, who is as unpredictable and amusing (in a horrifying way) as ever.

“Hit So Hard” is also a window on a legendary — nay, mythic — period in rock history.  While touring with Hole Schemel took along a movie camera and recorded everything going on around her. This footage, unseen for 20 years and cannily edited by Ebersole, is a priceless record of the Seattle grunge scene and its major players.

Schemel lived for a time with Love, her doomed husband Curt Cobain, and the couple’s little girl Frances Bean, and her footage of this Unholy Family of Grunge is haunting.

| Robert W. Butler