Dir. Aaron Faulls, Nate Gowtham

Colin Hay is one of the coolest things to come out of Scotland, apart from the bagpipes (being serious, bagpipes are amazing).

In this “bleakly beautiful” documentary, we explore the life of Hay from his emigration Down Under, his huge success as the frontman of Men at Work, his fall from that height and his drive and happiness which makes him a better person every day. The intense candour in this film shows the true colours behind the frontman of one of the most popular bands of the 80s, and how he deals with pain, isolation, connection and ego.

Music is Hay’s compass – it’s how he made friends when he arrived in Australia as a teenager and it’s how he gained his worldwide fame. His family members comment how he was obsessively driven to succeed – Hay says he felt that made people latch on to him for the ride, which he didn’t mind.

The film deftly switches from colour to black and white to mark hard or heart-breaking moments – the hard slog of performing seven nights a week in a pub is in grayscale, and then we’re greeted with an eye-popping Men at Work single cover in full colour, coupled with their most popular single to date – Down Under. The song that introduced the vegemite sandwich to the world; how can we ever repay them for this? Another grayscale moment documents the court case when Men at Work were sued for copyright, an issue so troubling to band member Greg Ham it truly haunted him, and Colin as he recalls with tears in his eyes. The inside look in to the bands inner workings is interesting and provokes much conversation on what it means to be a team, and how to handle bubbling tensions and rising egos between friends.

The bookends of the film are marked with family members and well regarded actors and stars remarking on the influence and persona of Colin Hay (as well as a welcome surprise of Sia’s actual face!).

They talk of his commanding presence on stage, his kindness, his honesty and struggles – all with such admiration and respect. Tellingly though, these interviews only appear to introduce and close off the film, the rest is all Colin in his splendid frankness.

An amazingly talented musician who has produced some of the most wonderful songs of our time, and has the passion to talk about his pride and struggles honestly and openly. It’s Hay’s purity and love for music that makes this documentary so engrossing – very worth it for any music lover, music creator, Australian and/or fan of Scrubs!

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