Slim and I
Runtime: 106 minutes
Directed by: Kriv Stenders
Slim and I, directed by Kriv Stenders and produced in collaboration with Screen Queensland is, by their own description the story of Joy McKean, Slim Dusty’s wife of over fifty years. It promises to reveal the details of “her career, her decades touring around australia…and her determination to be recognised as a performer in her own right”. This is definitely an interesting and inviting premise, but does the film deliver?
Slim and I plays out like any traditional documentary, although the interviews with Australian country music elite were incredibly insightful and heartwarming despite their interruption of the narrative. I found myself laughing periodically and being drawn into the world that was being unfurled before me. Slim and I paints a beautiful picture of mid-twentieth century rural Australia, its unique culture and the sounds that accompany it. The beautiful cinematography and editing added to that, with each recreation feeling like a home movie.
The issue that arises when watching Slim and I is that despite producer Chris Brown and director Kriv Stenders’ promise that this is a film about Joy McKean, most mention of the woman comes as an afterthought. Slim is still very much centered in the story and it is a little disappointing to be left without any insight to McKean, who is clearly an incredibly intelligent, strong and interior woman. McKean was billed as an executive producer of the documentary and, in Chris Brown’s Q&A before the film, seemed determined to ensure control over the story told to audiences. Unfortunately as a result, I couldn’t help but feel that I was being kept at arm’s length as an audience member, dancing around any particularly interesting morsels (for example, a possible affair or the couple’s difficult decision to send their children to boarding school). All in all, I don’t think the film delivers its promise at all and the missing insight is incredibly noticeable.
Still, the lack of any real ‘salacious’ drama doesn’t really detract from the fact that this is a very well-made documentary. Country music and Australian pop culture fans will find Slim and I a nostalgic and often humorous exploration of two Australian music legends and how their relationship shaped country music for over five decades. The average viewer, however, may find the film bereft of the deeper details promised in the logline and advertising.
I’m not a massive country music fan but I left the cinema with a greater appreciation for the genre and its place in rural Australian counter culture.
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