REWIND REVIEW: Kenny (2006)

(M) ★★★★★

Director: Clayton Jacobson.

Cast: Shane Jacobson, Eve von Bibra, Clayton Jacobson, Ronald Jacobson, Jesse Jacobson, Morihiko Hasebe, Vicki Musso, Glenn Preusker, Chris Davis.

You never want to see this face poking through your dunny door.

I recently joined Jono Pech on his excellent podcast Comedy Rewind, which re-examines funny films from a bygone era and looks at how they hold up. Our topic was that great Aussie comedy Kenny. Listen here as we dissect the film in great depth.

Or you can read this blog. Or both.

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"None are less visible than those we decide not to see."

- Stadtler Lewis

I can't figure out who Stadtler Lewis was. There was a geneticist named Lewis Stadler, who quite possibly said this rather profound quote, but the internet isn't definitive on this.

Either way, this quote opens Kenny and sums up the oddly philosophical nature of the film. While on the promotion circuit for the movie, director Clayton Jacobson and his actor brother Shane were keen to spruik Kenny as a kind of Dalai Lama of dunnies, Buddha of bogs, guru of garderobes, shaman of shitters... I can go on and on with these... wise man of water closets... ok, I'll stop now. 

These epithets are weirdly accurate and nail the utterly bizarre idea behind the film. A mockumentary about a man who works in the portaloo industry, whose "chin up" credo helps him keep his head above the literal and not-so-literal shit in his life - who the hell would watch that?

Lots of people evidently. Kenny is the 45th highest grossing Aussie film at the Australian box office of all time (as of Jan 2022), earning almost $7.8m. That puts it higher than Crocodile Dundee 3, Wolf Creek and Mad Max. Not bad off a sub-one-million-dollar budget.

It's also not bad for an essentially plotless faux-doco. At the time of its release, Kenny somehow became a cultural phenomenon in Australia. Shane Jacobson appeared on talk shows in character, current affairs programs did glitzy packages on it, and the country fell in love with this lisping, put-upon plumber. He even scored a (little-watched) spin-off TV series. For a short while, Kenny was everywhere, in a way few Aussie films ever have been in Australia.

It would have been easy for Kenny to fail, but Jacobson's sincerity in the lead role makes it not just succeed - it makes it iconic. Kenny is a true blue-collar hero. His quest is for happiness and respect, and he encounters no real villain beyond a snide society that looks down on him. There is no real hero's journey here, but Kenny seems a bit more comfortable in his own skin by film's end. He has a job opportunity (which he rejects), a potential romance, and he finally takes symbolic revenge against the aforementioned snide society by pouring shit into an arrogant yuppie's sports car. 

But really, Kenny just keeps being Kenny. He's easy to love. He reels off home-spun wisdom, poo facts, and wonderful one-liners ("He's as silly as a bum full of Smarties" is my personal favourite), while enduring a shitty ex-wife, an arsehole of a dad, dim-witted colleagues, and a crap job (pun intended). He largely does it all with a smile and a joke. He's accepting of everyone, and wants to be everyone's mate.

The secret hero is director Clayton Jacobson. Imagine if Kenny was a straight-ahead comedy film, not a mockumentary. It would suck. Unequivocally. Shane Jacobson's naturalistic performance could make it feel real, but the doco approach amplifies it to another level. It makes everything hit harder than it ever could. The pathos is dialled up a notch, and so is the humour, the heart, and the message. Add in the support cast (especially Eve von Bibra) that let Kenny shine even more, and it bubbles with Aussie underdog charm.  

Kenny is a rare Australian film. It's in that elite bunch of homegrown movies everyone knows about and loves, alongside the likes of The Castle, Strictly Ballroom, Crocodile Dundee and Babe. But it's also a real lightning-in-a-bottle kind of movie. It's an unlikely success on paper, utterly unrepeatable, and unlike any other film in Australian cinema history. 

Who will win triple j's Hottest 100 of 2021?

It's Hottest 100 time again. It's on January 22 and will once again deliver what triple j listeners deem to be the best songs of the past year, creating a musical time capsule for decades to come.

It will also bring with it much debate. There will be the typical whingeing from people who don't listen to triple j anymore and who preferred it in the '90s when they played more Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers and who haven't caught up to the fact that triple j is the national youth broadcaster and thus keeps up with the youth and not ageing morons whose musical tastes haven't moved with the times. Get over yourselves, haters. (Oh, and listen to Double J on Sunday, January 23 when they replay the Hottest 100 of 2001 in full.)

When it comes to picking a winner, there are three key indicators - the bookies, social media vote counter 100 Warm Tunas, and ARIA chart performance. The first two are somewhat obvious and are usually pretty close (although 100 Warm Tunas was wrong in 2019 and 2016). ARIA chart performance is the icing on the cake - only five times out of 28 has the Hottest 100 winner failed to chart in the ARIA top 50 prior to winning.

I've added an extra "expert" opinion this year courtesy of GQ, because I've never known them to take an interest in the Hottest 100 before and the more the merrier I say.

Let's look at who might win this year.

(All stats and odds were correct at time of publication.)

Stay - Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber

100 Warm Tunas: #3

Sportsbet: $2.20 (favourite)

ARIA: #1

GQ: #1

Why it will win: This song has been everywhere and nails the all-important crossover factor between mainstream radio and triple j. The last winner to not reach the ARIA top 50 was Ocean Alley's Confidence in 2018 and before that you have to go all the way back to Muse's Knights Of Cydonia in 2008. Stay debuted at #1, spent 14 weeks there, and hasn't left the top six in the six months since its release. It's also the sixth most played track on triple j this year. If Kid Laroi wins, he'll be the first indigenous artist to take top place, with the previous best being Thelma Plum reaching #9 with Better In Blak - that's a big tick for a large portion of the triple j audience. And if you think the Bieber Factor is a drawback, consider this - Bieber has been around for over a decade. How many kids grew up listening to him before crossing over to triple j as they matured, and therefore don't see his name as a negative like older listeners do, but rather a kind of nostalgia? Stay is the favourite, and triple j's Hobba & Hing recently let slip the winner had a clear lead. This is the one. 

Why it won't win: The Bieber Factor. triple j crossed a bridge it never expected to cross when it began playing this song, with the youth broadcaster torn between supporting an indigenous rapper they unearthed and playing one of the poppiest of pop stars. In the eyes of many listeners, Bieber is the antithesis of everything triple j once stood for, and in a year of once-unlikely winners, Bieber ranks pretty highly in the unlikely stakes. Just watch the hardcore triple j-heads lose their shit when he wins.

Elephant - The Wiggles

100 Warm Tunas: #1

Sportsbet: $4.50 (third favourite)

ARIA: N/A

GQ: #2

Why it will win: As noted with Bieber, there are a lot people among the current crop of triple j listeners who grew up on The Wiggles. A lot of those same people love Tame Impala. For those listeners, this is a match made in heaven. 100 Warm Tunas has this down as #1, and those algorithms have been right more than they've been wrong.

Why it won't win: A Like A Version has never gone higher than #5, when Denzel Curry's Bulls On Parade blew the lid off. #5 is also the highest any cover has gone - see also Spiderbait's Black Betty and Boy & Bear's Fall At Your Feet. In 2019, 100 Warm Tunas predicted Curry's cover would win, which is where the algorithm falls down. Outside triple j, Like A Version's have no traction. The Wiggles doing Tame Impala is something of an exception to that rule because their cover gained a bit of media notice outside triple j, which will send it higher than #5. But it won't be enough to get the win. But it sparks an interesting question: which win would piss off the purists more - The Wiggles or Justin Bieber?

The Angel Of 8th Ave - Gang Of Youths

100 Warm Tunas: #2

Sportsbet: $7 (fourth favourite)

ARIA: #48

GQ: #3

Why it will win: In a field that includes The Wiggles, Bieber and former Disney pop princess Olivia Rodrigo, this is the purists' favourite. With six entries since 2015, including three in the top 10 in 2017, you could argue their due. And unlike 2017, GOY don't have a whole album worth of tracks to split their vote. If Warm Tunas is wrong about The Wiggles, this is next in line.

Why it won't win: None of the big indicators - Warm Tunas and Sportsbet - tip it to win, and it only barely scraped into the ARIA top 50. And only Kendrick Lamar has ever topped the countdown after previously placing at #2.

Good 4 U - Olivia Rodrigo

100 Warm Tunas: #4

Sportsbet: $4 (second favourite)

ARIA: #1

GQ: #4

Why it will win: Similar to Stay, this has major crossover appeal. It's been in the ARIA top 50 for 34 weeks, and is still in the top 20. Rodrigo is one of the 20 most played artists on triple j and this rocky throwback track sounds like it could have been on triple j's playlist five, 10 or even 20 years ago, which will win over a lot of people.

Why it won't win: Rodrigo is a Disney-approved pop star and High School Music graduate. Much like Bieber and The Wiggles, this factoid gets up the nose of the purists. But more importantly, Rodrigo's track Driver's Licence (another worldwide hit) is also likely to do well, which will split her vote.

Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

100 Warm Tunas: #8

Sportsbet: $21 (fifth favourite)

ARIA: #3

GQ: #5

Why it will win: triple j loves Billie Eilish. She was their most played artist in 2021 and she won the Hottest 100 in 2019. She hasn't missed the top 10 in the past three years - only Powderfinger has ever done that, but it's a record she's likely to break this year as this song is a dead cert for the top 10. But can she get to #1 again? 

Why it won't win: Eilish would have to pull a Powderfinger to win - the Queensland rockers are the only band to top the annual countdown twice. It's enough that she'll be setting a new record for most consecutive years in the top 10.

Kiss Me More - Doja Cat feat. SZA

100 Warm Tunas: #5

Sportsbet: $41 (eighth favourite)

ARIA: #2

GQ: #7

Why it will win: Another of triple j's most played songs this year, it's this year's WAP. Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion set a Hottest 100 record for women of colour and female rappers last year, and Doja Cat and SZA have a chance to set the bar higher again with this boppy number.

Why it won't win: It doesn't have the buzz of the aforementioned songs but is still destined for the top 10. Warm Tunas and the bookies at least agree on that. 

And here are some other songs destined to do well:

Lots Of Nothing - Spacey Jane

100 Warm Tunas: #6

Sportsbet: $34 (seventh favourite)

ARIA: N/A

GQ: #6

On My Knees - Rufus Du Sol

100 Warm Tunas: #7

Sportsbet: $26 (sixth favourite)

ARIA: 43

GQ: #10

Hertz - Amyl & The Sniffers

100 Warm Tunas: #9

Sportsbet: $201 (equal 18th favourite)

ARIA: N/A

GQ: #13

Driver's Licence - Olivia Rodrigo

100 Warm Tunas: #21

Sportsbet: $51 (ninth favourite)

ARIA: #1

GQ: #11

Seventeen Going Under - Sam Fender

100 Warm Tunas: #11

Sportsbet: $176 (equal 15th favourite)

ARIA: N/A

GQ: #14

And here's my top 20 so you can check out how wrong I am:

1. Stay - The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber

2. Good 4 U - Olivia Rodrigo

3. Angel Of 8th Avenue - Gang Of Youths

4. Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish

5. Elephant - The Wiggles

6. Seventeen Going Under - Sam Fender

7. Lots Of Nothing - Spacey Jane

8. Kiss Me More - Doja Cat feat. SZA

9. On My Knees - Rufus Du Sol

10. Alive - Rufus Du Sol

11. Industry Baby - Lil Nas X feat. Jack Harlow

12. Hertz - Amyl & The Sniffers

13. Chaise Longue - Wet Leg

14. Drivers Licence - Olivia Rodrigo

15. Apple Crumble - Lime Cordiale & Idris Elba

16. Sunscreen - Ball Park Music

17. Gold Chains - Genesis Owusu

18. Queen - G Flip feat. mxmtoon

19. Solar Power - Lorde

20. I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance) - Glass Animals

REWIND REVIEW: Borg Vs McEnroe

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio across regional Victoria on January 20, 2022.

(M) ★★★★

Director: Janus Metz Pedersen

Cast: Sverrir Gudnason, Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsgård, Tuva Novotny, Scott Arthur, Tom Datnow.

Tracksuits. Fuck yeah.

There aren't a lot of tennis movies. The majority of sports films seem to be about boxing or baseball, which is a fair indication of the American domination of both cinema and sport.

Amazingly two great tennis films landed around the same time back in 2017. One is the excellent Battle Of The Sexes, and the other is this fascinating Danish/Swedish/Finnish co-production. Both are outstanding partly because they're about more than just tennis, but are also quite faithful to the sport their celebrating.

Borg Vs McEnroe builds to the 1980 Wimbledon final, which is widely considered one of the greatest Grand Slam finals ever played, was the peak of the rivalry between Swedish wunderkind Bjorn Borg and American firebrand John McEnroe.

What makes the film fascinating is the way it explores the psychology behind elite sportspeople. The Borg-McEnroe rivalry was iconic because of their "fire and ice" temperaments - Borg was seen as robot-like and emotionless, while McEnroe was the swearing-and-spitting "superbrat". This would have made it easy to make McEnroe the villain, but the story exceeds expectations by making us understand and even empathise with McEnroe somewhat. 

It also argues the two athletes were, for all their differences, incredibly similar; that Borg merely internalised what McEnroe let out. Both men are driven by a fear of losing, and almost everything in their lives is built around this phobia of not being the best. This notion is highlighted to show what set them apart, along with the sacrifices made along their journeys.

The drive and tenacity of them both, and how that manifests, keeps the film interesting, even as the story moves slowly and feels occasionally padded. It also suffers a little from focusing mostly on Borg, when McEnroe comes off as the more interesting character. It should be noted this is not the fault of the stars - Gudnason is wonderfully intense and "behind the eyes" as Borg, while LaBeouf deftly avoids making McEnroe feel like a caricature, which would have been easy to do. 

But the pay-off is great. Director Janus Metz Pedersen thankfully dedicates the last half an hour to the match itself, which is suitably intense, making a good mix of close-ups of the actors playing shots and body doubles for the rallies. The whole thing looks great, from the era replication to the nice use of short focus to highlight the isolation of the tennis stars.

Between this and Battle Of The Sexes (I haven't seen King Richard yet), it makes you wonder why there aren't more tennis movies. 

The Power Of The Dog

This is a version of a review heard on ABC Radio Victoria on January 7, 2021.

(M) ★★★★

Director: Jane Campion.

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie, Genevieve Lemon, Keith Carradine, Frances Conroy, Peter Carroll.

"Sing one more verse of Rawhide, I dare ya!"

There are many mysteries buried within The Power Of The Dog, but perhaps the biggest one is "why has it taken Jane Campion 12 years to make a new feature film?".

Of course the Kiwi director has been busy in that time, but the quiet mysteries and beautiful look of this slow yet intense Western serve as a keen reminder of Campion's skills.

Adapting Thomas Savage's long-forgotten novel, it tells of two wealthy ranchers, Phil and George Burbank. Though brothers, they're like chalk and cheese - Phil (Cumberbatch) is a mean-spirited man living in the shadow of his long-dead idol Bronco Henry, while George (Plemons) is quiet, lonely, and seemingly in search of something more in his life.

When George marries a local widow named Rose (Dunst), it causes friction with Phil, but the arrival of Rose's teenaged son Peter (Smit-McPhee) at the Burbank's Montana ranch sets off a dramatic series of events.

The Power Of The Dog drifts from pretty and plain to unsettling and odd in a matter of moments as it sifts through intriguing ideas about love and loss, masculinity and sexuality, power and pride. Jonny Greenwood's wonderfully evocative score mirrors these subtle tonal shifts, edging into discordance and atonality as the story gets off-kilter. The Radiohead multi-instrumentalist's work is one of many highlights, along with the cast, and the gorgeous cinematography from Ari Wegner.

All of this contributes to the power and beauty of the story, as mysteries slowly unravel in unexpected ways. There's a gothic quality to it all that makes it more of a psychological drama than a western at times, thanks in part to the production design of the Burbank mansion, a strange edifice to civility in the middle of the Montana wilds (for which New Zealand is fine substitute).

Cumberbatch and Smit-McPhee are outstanding in the leads. Cumberbatch plays Phil like a classic bastard but different shades emerge as the film progresses, beautifully realised by the script and the actor. He seemingly softens through his friendship with Smit-McPhee's Peter, a character that also reveals greater complexity as the story progresses. Dunst is also outstanding, though serves as third fiddle to magnetism of Cumberbatch and the creeping strangeness of Smit-McPhee, with the latter threatening to steal the show. Smit-McPhee's is a performance that becomes greater and more impressive the more you think about it after the credits have rolled.

Campion's return to the feature film director's chair is a welcome one, and The Power Of The Dog shows once again her incredible talents as a storyteller. Let's hope we don't have to wait so long again for her next film.

Don't Look Up

This is a version of a review heard on ABC Radio Victoria on January 7, 2021.

(M) ★★★½

Director: Adam McKay.

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Melanie Lynskey, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi, Himesh Patel. 

So many specials.

Dear Adam McKay,

If someone doesn't like your movie, it doesn't necessarily mean they didn't get it. They might just think it's a bad movie. This doesn't mean the message is bad, or that they disagree with that message - it probably means they think the film-making techniques employed in communicating that message didn't work for them.

Personally, I liked Don't Look Up, though it's not without its flaws. The fact that I think it's flawed doesn't mean I didn't get it. I understand what the film is about - it's an allegory for climate change, while simultaneously demonstrating the facile nature of the news cycle, the rampant stupidity and inherent danger of social media, the devious economic forces at play within our various world governments, the casual misogyny within our society, and how we're spiralling into an apocalyptic situation of our own making that, ironically, we have the capacity to avert.

I get that. I also laud you for making a film that points out all those things, especially one with such a fine and attention-grabbing cast. Your film, this cast, and the debate generated by Don't Look Up all help draw attention to our plight. Obviously, we are way beyond talking, and the real-life scientists mirrored by the fictional Dr Randall Mindy (DiCaprio) are understandably irate that so little is happening to avoid this climatic disaster. But every little bit helps, and that is what your film is about. And I get that.

But just because you make an important film about an important subject doesn't mean you escape criticism. For example: it's possible to make a shit film about the Holocaust. Just as it's possible to make an imperfect film about climate change.

Mr McKay, usually I don't read other reviews before writing my own, but because you jumped on Twitter to say that people who didn't like the film didn't get it, I did a little bit of pre-reading. I don't agree with some of the overly critical assessments. I fail to see how the film "trivialises" its subject matter, or how it comes off as "cynical" or "insufferably smug" or tackles an "easy target". These reviews miss the point in my view, though that doesn't mean they didn't get the film. While I disagree with their sentiments, it doesn't mean they didn't understand Don't Look Up. And if those reviewers can ably demonstrate how they film demonstrates their failings, then that's fine too.

My own criticisms mirror some of the other criticisms I've seen. The film is longer than it should be (one example: the live-in-concert song that appears with half-an-hour to go wears out its welcome quickly). The tone, which was always going to be difficult to nail due to the subject matter, wanders all over the shop, making the humour fail almost as often as it lands. Your predilection for editing in stock footage works in places, mostly later in the film, and not in others. 

But, Mr McKay, I enjoyed the film. Its satire is so close to the mark that it hurts - the reality is as absurd as the send-up, which makes the film's message all the more pointed. The performances are outstanding. DiCaprio and Lawrence are brilliant, with the latters head-to-heads with Jonah Hill's dim-witted son-of-a-president a particular highlight. Morgan is great, Streep's president is wonderfully diabolical, and Rylance and Blanchett employ their incredible skills to ensure their characters aren't caricatures. And when the laughs land, they're great.

There are some powerful moments too. The ending is gut-wrenching. Seeing DiCaprio and Lawrence's star-gazers screaming their existential dread to an unhearing audience is a big statement. Oh, and the weird sub-plot about a money-grubbing general is hilarious. 

Mr McKay, your film is worthy of a double bill with Idiocracy, and while it falls short of your best film The Big Short, it's an admirable-if-flawed satire that I will heartily recommend despite its flaws. But please remember - someone not liking your film doesn't mean they didn't get it.