No. 50. (2020) SLIM AND I August. 29th.

 

Film No. 50 (2020)  August 29th.  8:30 PM.  Cinema 1  ORANA Busselton.

"Sim and Joy were definitely trail blazers, they set a precedent". (Paul Kelly gives a general summary of how Slim and Joy set standards for the next generation of artists).

I thought I'd seen the best biography depicting an Australian icon last month when I watched Brock, Over The Top; the story of how Peter Brock became a legend. I was wrong, Slim and I, the story of how and why country performer Slim Dusty (David Gordon Kirkpatrick) influenced generations of song writers and performers throughout Australia is better. 

Kriv Stenders has written and directed this important contribution to the historical cataloging of an interesting and talented Australian via cinema. And while Dusty is the icon, it's his wife, Joy who is without a doubt the reason for Slim's legendary status. As the posters catch phrase describes it, It Takes Two To Create a Legend.

In the same way as Brock, Over The Top, highlights Peter Brock, Slim and I gives Australians a real sense of why Dusty has become so immortalized. Slim and I has talking heads of the likes of, Paul Kelly, Troy Cassar-Daley, Missy Higgins and Casey Chambers describing how Slim and Joy empowered them to succeed. Their revelations were surprising. Their occasional renditions of some of the Kirkpatrick/McKean magical lyrics were mesmerizing.

This film can be watched by many, you don't necessarily have to be Australian to appreciate Slim and I because Stenders has woven an interesting international story. The old saying "behind every good man there is an equally good woman" is a theme that holds up. The thing is, the lesser known Joy McKean may be judged as more than equal in Slim and I. The story is, Slim often said as much when he was alive! 10GUMS.