friendsare perhapsthe most harrowing,and moving,of
the film. Thesescenes’delayedappearancealso reflects
TheEulogy’s largelychronologicalapproach,andoffers
theadditional– andunhappy– suggestionthatTozer
may have encounteredlove only in old age. At the same
time,broachingsexualityearlier,asa centralelement
of Tozer’sidentityand art, might have been more illumi-
nating.It is not unreasonableto wonderwhetherthe
framingof his sexualityas a late-narrativedevelopment
has been unconsciouslyinheritedfrom cinema’swider
heteronormativepenchantfor deploying orientation as
a ‘twist’to escalatethe stakes.
WhileTheEulogycomesup short when grappling
with some of its underlyingtensions(in Tozer’slife; bet-
ween art and politics),it shouldneverthelessbe viewed
asa clearsuccessin termsofhistoricalresearchand
accessiblebiographicalfilmmaking.The complexities
of the ideas it engageswith may often be lost amid its
streamlinedstructure,overlyliteralisedor soft-pedalled,
but this also gives the senseof a subjectwho is more
complexthanthepersonalandprofessionaldetails
that could be containedwithina singlefilm. Moreover,
Hoskinghas contributednot only an accountof a life full
of achievementsand contradictions,but also to our un-
derstandingofa timein Australianhistorythat’squickly
slippingfrom the edgesof the ‘recent’and into the out-
skirtsof‘historical’.TheEulogyremainsanintriguing
documentof a remarkableAustralianfigure – even if
the idea of musicalgeniusstill seemsas distantas ever,
and we’re ultimatelyleft with the sensethat, no matter
who deliversthe eulogy, some legacies linger and some
simply fade away.
Kit MacFarlanehas a PhD in film and literaturestudies,
and is a lecturerin the Schoolof Creative Industries at
the University of South Australia. m
Todeclaregeniusis notthesameasdemonstratingit.Perhapsgeniusbyits
naturecan’tbedemonstrated...Inanycase,a viewerunacquaintedwith
Tozerwilllargely have to take Keating’s and the interviewees’ word for it.Above: Tozer (left) with former prime minister Paul Keating in 2004Endnotes(^1) Thefulleulogyis availableat ‘TheHonourablePaulKeating’s
Eulogyto GeoffreyTozer’,TheEulogyofficialwebsite,http://
theeulogy.com.au/tozer-eulogy, accessed23 May 2019.
(^2) See, for example,JoshuaWolf Shenk,‘The End of “Genius”’,
TheNewYorkTimes, 19 July 2014,https://www.nytimes.
com/2014/07/20/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-genius.html,
accessed23 May 2019.
(^3) See SinddyEaly, ‘The CoalitionWantsthe ABC Furoreto
Blow Over,but Its FingerprintsAre All over This Mess’,The
Guardian, 2 October2018,https://www.theguardian.com/
commentisfree/2018/oct/02/the-coalition-wants-the-abc
-furore-to-blow-over-but-its-fingerprints-are-all-over-this
-mess, accessed23 May 2019.
(^4) See, for example,Greg Jericho,‘Floggingthe DeadHorse
of NeoliberalismIsn’t Goingto Improvethe Economy’,The
Guardian, 2 April 2017,https://www.theguardian.com/
business/grogonomics/2017/apr/02/flogging-the-dead
-horse-of-neoliberalism-isnt-going-to-improve-the-economy;
JeremyPoxon,‘It’s Time for Progressivesto MoveOn from
PaulKeating’,Crikey, 1 March2019,https://www.crikey.com.
au/2019/03/01/paul-keating-progressives/; and Jeff Sparrow,
‘The LiberalLeft Is Trappedin a DeathSpiral:Progressives
Needto Throwthe ResetSwitch’,TheGuardian, 29 June
2016,https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/
jun/29/the-liberal-left-is-trapped-in-a-death-spiral-progressives
-need-to-throw-the-reset-switch, all accessed23 May 2019.
(^5) See, for example,AntonyLoewenstein,‘MediaWar Junkies
Unite’,in Loewenstein& Jeff Sparrow(eds),LeftTurn:Political
EssaysfortheNewLeft, MelbourneUniversityPress,Carlton,
VIC, 2012,pp. 78–9;and Nick Baker,‘A Historyof Australia’s
OffshoreDetentionPolicy’,SBSNews, updated20 February
2019,https://www.sbs.com.au/news/a-history-of-australia
-s-offshore-detention-policy, accessed23 May 2019.
(^6) See ‘Q&A withTheEulogyDirectorJanineHosking’,Melbourne
InternationalFilm Festivalwebsite,13 July 2018,http://miff.
com.au/blog/story/qa-with-the-eulogy-director-janine-hosking,
accessed 23 May 2019.
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