Covering the entire four-year period of Marlon Williams writing his album Te Whare Tīwekaweka in te reo Māori as it was part of his culture that he has acknowledged in the past but had not been fully able to embrace before.

I do remember when Marlon Williams first moved to Melbourne and was living upstairs at the Yarra Hotel in Abbotsford back when Mick Thomas was running it. The big show there was with 100 people in the front bar. The band all got new white t-shirts and I bought Aldous Harding’s EP directly off her as nobody knew who she was and I could not find it around anywhere.

There were quite a few gigs I remember him playing at as the second or third support act but he was always recommended by other people and also other musicians as being special even back then. Just as I remember Jordie Lane asking me to come in and see his show next door from the Northcote Social Club at Bar 303 and now he sells out shows there.

Marlon does not really seem to be that comfortable with the camera being there as he always seems somewhat self-conscious. There is an interview with him talking to Warren Ellis who also featured in a documentary that is never really “fly on the wall” as you always know someone is filming.

I did try and get in touch with Marlon via his management in the second half of 2023 and was told he was not reachable when he was not on tour, no exceptions.

There is a lot of live performance footage in this documentary that seems to be filmed by the audience on phones so finally a use to those videos no one ever seems to watch at least. They did credit every single one of them and it reminded me of the 30+ cinematographers for Bad Boy Bubby they used even though they did not really need to. In this case it was use those or not have the footage.

The audience was quite boisterous at the screening I went to including one particular person who thought Marlon could hear them through the screen so they would be talking to him like he was in the room. Yes of course he is a “distant relative” of you, everyone is related to everyone else in New Zealand obviously!

Compare and contrast with the John Clarke documentary where he got famous in New Zealand originally and then left and moved to Australia. Marlon Williams seems to have done a lot of his work in Australia and then moved to New Zealand to live when he is not on tour. Bob Log III says he would love to do more shows in Australia but there are just not enough places he can tour his work, he spends most of his year overseas.

In terms of showing the creative process this documentary does well and does not overstay its welcome and should do well with fans of his work and as companion piece to the album to help promote it.

Film details:

Director: Ursula Grace Williams

Producer: Alexander Behse

Cinematographer: Tim Flower

Composer: Mark Perkins

Editor: Josh Yong

Featured Subjects: Marlon Williams, LORDE, Aldous Harding

Genre: Documentary

Country: New Zealand

Language: English, Māori

Length: 92min

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUGQjHp6Jwg