Waking Up Next To A Dead Sheep
Aah, it’s movie festival time again in Melbourne. Queues stretching down the street, the Forum Theatre aglow and movie-goers fretting while they wait in line for their buddies to show up so they don’t have to walk into the cinema and regretfully tell other punters “Sorry, this seat’s saved … and so’s this one too”. And why do we do it? To get those two hours of escapism where we can be made to think, and to marvel, and even momentarily wish we’d gone to film school … or maybe that’s just me?
On Friday night we went to see A Weekend In The Country, which is a documentary all about the rise and rise of the annual Meredith Music Festival. I have to admit that I’ve never been to Meredith, and the closest link between myself and the festival is that one of my buddies at work has been making the annual pilgrimage there for the last three years running. Before the opening credits even start rolling, we see footage of You Am I taking to the stage with a blistering version of “Rumble”. Good start methinks!
The documentary gives you the history of the festival from its very humble beginnings back in 1991, to where it is now – an annual mecca for thousands of people who come along for a weekend of great music, great company and copious amounts of alcoholic beverages. By far though, the best thing about the film is that the story is told by the people most closely involved in setting it up, from the organisers to the very generous Jack and Mary Nolan who allow the event to be staged on their property each year. We also learn a lot about their son, Chris, who was instrumental in making the festival what it is today.
Far from being a detached record of the festival’s history, it looks as though making this doco was a labour of love for its director, Robert McCafferty. The anecdotes related by both performers and punters are hilarious, and told with great warmth and good humour. A few that stand out are the story of how the Meredith Gift was born (along with fantastic use of the term “underpanted”), Warren from The Dirty Three commenting on the idea of BYO beer, and the story of the noisy power generator-cum-bomb. Tales like this make you get a feel for what this festival’s really all about.
And by the way, before anyone jumps to conclusions about my sleeping habits, the title of this post refers to a comment made by Matt High during the doco. He’s recounting something that happened during the very early years of the festival, after falling asleep outdoors on the Nolans’ property after a show.
On Friday night we went to see A Weekend In The Country, which is a documentary all about the rise and rise of the annual Meredith Music Festival. I have to admit that I’ve never been to Meredith, and the closest link between myself and the festival is that one of my buddies at work has been making the annual pilgrimage there for the last three years running. Before the opening credits even start rolling, we see footage of You Am I taking to the stage with a blistering version of “Rumble”. Good start methinks!
The documentary gives you the history of the festival from its very humble beginnings back in 1991, to where it is now – an annual mecca for thousands of people who come along for a weekend of great music, great company and copious amounts of alcoholic beverages. By far though, the best thing about the film is that the story is told by the people most closely involved in setting it up, from the organisers to the very generous Jack and Mary Nolan who allow the event to be staged on their property each year. We also learn a lot about their son, Chris, who was instrumental in making the festival what it is today.
Far from being a detached record of the festival’s history, it looks as though making this doco was a labour of love for its director, Robert McCafferty. The anecdotes related by both performers and punters are hilarious, and told with great warmth and good humour. A few that stand out are the story of how the Meredith Gift was born (along with fantastic use of the term “underpanted”), Warren from The Dirty Three commenting on the idea of BYO beer, and the story of the noisy power generator-cum-bomb. Tales like this make you get a feel for what this festival’s really all about.
And by the way, before anyone jumps to conclusions about my sleeping habits, the title of this post refers to a comment made by Matt High during the doco. He’s recounting something that happened during the very early years of the festival, after falling asleep outdoors on the Nolans’ property after a show.
posted by yossarian | 5:36 PM
5 Comments:
What is the difference between a chipmunk and a squirrel? It's good to have you back, even for a snippet!
Hey Yossarian!!!
Well done, yet another well executed review on a brilliant documentary-there were some amazing moments during the flick, notwithstanding the 2004 storm. So my theory of how it'd finish up didn't pan out (my sister said it would have been a bit too poxy if it did!) Given what we saw (and boy did we see a lot!) it was a great doco!
Great seeing you've returned to Procrati Nation!
i'm pretty sure that the difference between chipmunks and squirrels is that squirrels don't have any markings on their fur, whereas chipmunks have that nice little stripe.
did you know that there's apparently a murderous side to squirrels? the murdoch weekend tabloid had a story of how a young lady in england nearly got here arm ripped off by one of these fellas...what's next?!
hehehe ... yeah, i heard about that feral squirrel! beneath that cute fuzzy exterior, there's a wild thing just hankering to get out ... maybe he was trying to break out of the cute fuzzy mould?
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