Our top 5 music cinema films

After month on month of watching 100s of music themed films,  curator Peter McKay selected 28 documentaries and dramas to feature in Get What You Want: Music Cinema. This is his personal top five films of the program.

WHAT WOULD YOUR TOP FIVE LOOK LIKE?
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Presented in conjunction with the Brisbane Festival ’Get What You Want’, showing at the Australian Cinémathèque, GOMA from 2 September – 2 October 2016 is a selection of documentary and fiction films concerned with different genres of music, from country, disco, folk and hip hop to house, punk, metal, reggae and soul. It offers a unique platform from which to appraise the creative and social dynamics operating across these different musical subcultures, as well as acknowledging the exchange and movement between them. These films underline the idea that music, in all its endless permutations, can enrich our identities and transform both musician and listener into the somebody they want to be.

5

Nine Muses of Star Empire 2012 15+ (1Hr 22 Mins)
Ever wondered how teams of dancers construct their routines or stay in perfect time in front of audiences of thousands? Practice, practice and more practice. Practice until every song becomes meaningless and you never want to dance again. Practice until your soul leaves your body to sit and cry in the corner of the change room. Nine Muses of Star Empire divulges a dark and bizarre part of the story about an aspect of the music-industrial complex known as K-Pop!

Screens 1.00pm Sunday 4 September
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4

Rock the Bells 2006 MA15+ (1Hr 43Mins)
Rock the Bells is a white-knuckle trip through the world of concert production as an ambitious small time promoter attempts to bring together the full Wu-Tang Clan together for his latest festival. Incidentally the film reveals something of the terrible injustice that plagued rap superstar ODB, capturing and contextualising some of the days before his untimely death. Must see!

Screens 7.45pm Friday 23 September
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3

Anvil: The Story of Anvil 2008 M (1Hr 20Min)
Anvil: The Story of Anvil is the first film directed by Sacha Gervasi, a journalist, educator and scriptwriter of The Terminal. Gervasi introduced himself to the Canadian band as ‘England’s number one Anvil fan’ back in 1982 after they performed at a London club – he then acted as their roadie for tours in 1982, 84 and 85. Their unique off-camera relationship infuses the film with a contagious affection for Anvil’s energetic approach to music making. Equally their familiarity takes the camera to instances of profound frustration, exhaustion and confusion at their years of struggle. Quite simply this documentary offers a phenomenal lesson in perseverance and friendship.

Screens 3.00pm Saturday 24 September
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2

Inside Llewyn Davis 2013 MA15+ (1Hr 44 Mins)
The Coen brothers look at some of the gloomier existential dilemmas that musicians face in pursuing their art as they try to balance their time and resources against the demands made by society. Llewyn Davis is fictional folk singer surviving on the kindness of others in 1960s New York – though the directors admit they were partly inspired by the life of musician Dave Van Ronk as captured in his memoir The Mayor of MacDougal Street. The comparison elicited a little anger from friends of Van Ronk was known to be a particularly nice guy – as the character of Davis certainly isn’t.

It’s a complicated, if not chaotic, life that Davis leads. As obligations close in on the protagonist’s future, Inside Llewyn Davis manages to describe with rich insights the unforgiving existence faced by many an artist. There is also Justin Timberlake and a grumpy cat to satisfy those two particularly prominent fan groups.

Screens 3.00pm Saturday 10 September
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1

Maestro 2003 M (1Hr 29Min) View Trailer
The legacy of the 1970s New York club scene and its persistent impact on the music of today is hard to overestimate. Private loft parties hosted by some of the first and most innovative and influential DJs to ever spin and mix records also helped breakdown social boundaries and support freedom of expression in uplifting and unexpected ways. And also Keith Haring’s murals can be seen on the walls at the Paradise Garage, as well as scenes of Haring himself dancing during the club’s last weekend.

Full of historical footage and recent interviews, Maestro is essential viewing for anyone interested in electronic dance music. An inspiring lo-fi reflection on hi-fi dreams!

Screens 7.30pm Wednesday 7 September
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ALSO SCREENING
Also part of the Brisbane Festival see two fairy tale adaptations of Snow White.  
Join acclaimed pianist Mauro Colombis as he accompanies the silent film Snow White 1916 (11am Sunday 11 and 18 September)
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See Disney’s iconic feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937 (1pm Sunday 11 and 18 September)
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Australian Cinémathèque
GOMA is the only Australian art gallery with purpose-built facilities dedicated to film and the moving image and offers a rare opportunity to see films presented on the big screen as they were intended, and features many 35mm prints sourced from film archives around the world and screened in one of Australia’s last 35mm film venues.

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