Music

Watch Bruce McDonald's Roadkill Tonight on AUX BOX Office

by Allan Tong

Watch Roadkill tonight at 9:30 pm, and August 27, 12:30 am & 1:30 pm

Bruce McDonald’s first film (from 1989) would establish the themes he’d explore later in Highway 61 and Hard Core Logo (broadcast this month on AUX): rock music, the road and rock music.

In Roadkill, a record promoter dispatches a naive intern, Ramona (Valerie Buhagiar) to track down the label’s star band, The Children of Paradise, after they disappear on tour.  Because she can’t drive, Ramona travels to Sudbury by taxi, and prusues the band across the rural roads of northern Ontario.

Basically, Roadkill is a rock ‘n’ roll Heart of Darkness.  Ramona stumbles upon an aspiring serial killer (played by screenwriter Don McKeller, a long-haired indie film producer (McDonald himself) and a Ramone in her metaphorical trip up the river to discover herself.

Roadkill boasts the energy of a young punk band.  The grainy black-and-white footage and jumpcuts immediately establish its grungy tone, while the soundtrack sounds like a greatest hits of Canadian indie rock including The Cowboy Junkies, The Ugly Ducklings, The Paupers, Handsome Ned, Nash The Slash and the Leslie Spit Treo.