KVIFF review: We Beg To Differ (2024)
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Future Frames – Generation NEXT of European Cinema
Among many adrenaline junky activities, Diffing is one that not many people know of. There is barely anyone who hasn’t heard of bungee-jumping, jet skiing or sky diving, but the (illegal) car driving discipline similar to drifting, but done in one spot, is something reserved to a group of enthusiasts who get the kick out of flirting with death by rear-wheel driving causing the wheels to spin at different speeds. “Diffing cars” refers to a driving technique where a car, usually rear-wheel drive, is intentionally driven in a way that causes the rear wheels to spin at different speeds, often resulting in a controlled slide or drift. This technique can be achieved by modifying or locking the differential. For someone who knows nothing about cars or sports related to them, this explanation, given only a few minutes into Ruairi Bradley’s multiple-award-winning short documentary We Beg To Differ (followed by intense googling), is a welcome introduction to this phenomenon. The viewer embarks on an excursion to a hidden spot in Ireland, where drivers gather to showcase their skills in front of local spectators.
The film’s opener, in which we see a group of motorcyclists and several sports cars following a funeral car, doesn’t need any textual or voice-over explanation. The roar of the engines is sufficient. The procession is following the road between endless green fields, with barely any houses in sight. It makes perfect sense that the popularity of dangerous, unusual sports finds its way to small, rural communities, which have nothing much going on. Fans gather to watch the drivers perform their best, and the event is loved by young and old. Bradley approaches the community with an inquisitive, unjudgmental gaze. Daniel Sadgwick’s camera is at a respectful distance from the crowd, and not focused very long on individuals’ faces. Only when drivers decide to tell something about their attachment to Diffing, the connection between faces and the lens becomes more intimate, but only briefly before it turns to something else.
One woman quotes her love of the “Fast & Furious” franchise as the source of her interest in the sport before admitting how Diffing is the only place she can be herself. The other, female voice, is telling about way too many suicides in the car scenes, and packed hospitals, but it is a man’s face we are observing. Ruairi Bradley creates a mosaic of energy-laden sequences that burst with the enthusiasm of its protagonists in an unfeigned, immediate manner. There is no judgment or commentary on what is going on, just a silent, attentive gaze at drivers and their following alike. We Beg To Differ is a worthy cinematic excursion into a world of risk-takers, enamoured with their dangerous hobby.
Before reaching the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it screens within the frames of the Future Frames programme, We Beg To Differ has made quite an impressive international journey, winning a nomination for Best British| Irish Short at the London Critics’ Circle and bagging the Best Film Award in the Live Action category at PÖFF Shorts in Tallinn. The film was nominated for Grand Prix at Clairmont-Ferrand, where it got a Special Mention (Student Prize category), and it went on screen at SXSW, Hot Docs, and Cameraimage (among other places).
Countries: Ireland, UK
Language: English
Runtime: 12′
Year: 2024
Producers: Ruairi Bradley, Collin Lewis (associate producer),
Elaine Brennan O’Dwyer (post production), Thomas Purdy
Written| Directed by: Ruairi Bradley
Cinematographer: Daniel Sedgwick
Composer: Reuben Harvey
Editors: Ruairi Bradley, Lauren Cullen
Sound Design: Andrew Kirwan
Colourist: Leandro Arouca
Cast: Baz Cane, Jade Mills, Rebecca Morrisson
