Derby

A documentary which follows one Mike Snell through his decision to leave his job and become a derby skater, incorporating interviews with his family, friends, and team members. The derby itself is a natural for film: violent, colourful, full of great sweeping movements. In practice it seems all but devoid of rules. Everyone very definitely stomps hard on everyone else. Kaylor, formerly a still photographer, makes full use of the sport's spectacular aspects (filming from high up over Madison Square Gardens, for instance, so that the skaters become a blur of colour in a small ring of light), and delights in tracing the rituals that separate the game from the mainstream of life. He also allows people and events to explain themselves; the result is a remarkably lucid exposition of the roller derby at all points (not least its appeal to violent and masochistic instincts).