Metro Australia – July 2019

BOTHTHEACTOFTURNINGTHELENSONA SUBJECTANDTHEACTOFENGAG-

INGWITHTHEENDPRODUCTINVOLVE,TOSOMEDEGREE,THEINSERTIONOF

ONESELFINTOTHEWORK;NOWHEREIS THISMOREFELTTHANINTHEMUSIC

DOCUMENTARY,A FORMTHATIS ATONCEA CHRONICLE,A CRITICALTOOL,

A SYMBOLOF COMMUNITYAND A CAPSULEOF FANDOM.ANTHONYCAREW

EXAMINESHOWTHESEELEMENTSMANIFESTIN THE RECENT FILMS BY TOBIAS

WILLIS AND CLAUDIA SANGIORGI DALIMORE.

Music, Self and Objectivityin

Now Sound: Melbourne’s Listening

and Her Sound, Her Story

Aural

Reflections

ThreeminutesintoNowSound:Melbourne’sListening

(TobiasWillis,2018),I sawmyselfonscreen.I didn’t

knowit wascoming,butthereI was:in a crowdcut­

awayattheNorthcoteSocialClub,watchingelectro

conceptualistSuiZhenperform.I expectedthedocu­

mentarytobefullof peopleI knew– friends;foes;fellow

broadcastersonMelbourne’siconiccommunity­radio

station3RRR,whereI’vepresenteda program,The

InternationalPopUnderground, for(ohgod)twodec­

ades.And,indeed,it was.ButI didn’tknowthat,forthe

first time ever as a critic, I’d seemyselfin a movie, and

havetocriticallyparsewhatthatmeant.

My unofficial,ephemeralon-screenpresenceinevi­

tablychangedwhatthisresultingessayis – something

evidentfromallthe‘I’sI’vealreadyused.Havingnever

wantedtoparticipatein contemporarypublishing’s

first-personindustrialcomplex,^1 I originallyconceived

ofthispieceasonecriticallyexaminingNowSound:

Melbourne’sListeningandanotherdocumentarychroni­

clingthelocalmusiccommunity,HerSound,HerStory

(Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore, 2018); the idea certainly

didn’tinvolvebringingme,aswriter,intotheanalysis.

But comingface-to-facewith myselfwas some kind of

La Jetée(ChrisMarker,1962)moment,instantly altering

thenarrativethatexistedbeforehand.

Mypresencesuggestedbothmyownproximityto

theworldbeingdepictedanda greaterthemeboth

documentariesaregrapplingwith:criticalobjectivity.

Truecriticalobjectivityis a myth;personalexperience,

prejudice,taste and knowledgecolourany opinion,reac­

tion or readingof an artwork(iconicfilm critic Pauline

Kaelcalledit ‘sapheadobjectivity’,seeingattempts

todepersonalisewritingasthescourgeofpassion­

atereactionandlivelydiscussion^2 ). Beyondobjectiv­

ity, or the lack thereof,writingaboutfilms and writing

aboutmusic– whichI’vealsodonefor(ohgod)two

decades– feeldistinctlydifferent.Whilethere’sa long,

respectedhistoryofcinemacriticism,musiccriticism

is oftenmaligned;there’sthattiredoldquote,variously

attributedtoFrankZappaorElvisCostello(andbe­

yond),that‘writingaboutmusicis likedancingabout

architecture’.^3 The role of a music critic is rarely to parse

CRITICAL VIEWS

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