Francesca Rudkin: Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line, The Instigators

Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line

Midnight Oil is not your typical band, so it makes sense that this is not your typical rockumentary. Sex and drugs play little if any part in the tale of one of Australia’s most successful rock groups ever. Neither will you find the kind of rivalries and tensions that one expects in the story of a band with a career as long as this one. 

Told in voiceovers by managers, critics, commentators, and the band members themselves, the film features plenty of footage of the Oils performing live, from their earliest days. Watching Garrett command the stage, it is clear why they made it as big as they did, even while they resisted crucial aspects of the pop game, such as appearing on Countdown, the most popular music programme in Australian TV history. 

 

The Instigators 

Rory and Cobby are unlikely partners thrown together for a heist. However, when it goes awry, they team up to outrun police, backward bureaucrats, and a vengeful crime boss (Apple TV+). 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at Me.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Francesca Rudkin is our film reviewer. She's here with us
this morning. Kioda, how are you feeling about ray Gun?

Speaker 3 (00:23):
AM trying? You're talking about that because tomorrow morning atually,
I don't understand what after such an intrudable Olympics, are
we focused on this? Why after Australia head one of
the best limps behead, are we focused on this?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah? I know, it's It's just that talks to internet culture,
don't you think how Francesca? It kind of talks to
the the things that get people's attention. They wanted to
bring new audiences to the games and I think ray
Gun has definitely achieved that. Anyway, let's talk about this
week's films. We'll have a listen to one that is
showing at the New Zealand International Film Festival. This is

(00:59):
the hardest line. We wanted to write material that ed
you right in the face and say this is the truth.
You need to lend your voice to things. You can't
stay farling your push to the wall believing. Okay, that's

(01:27):
the hardest line. It's showing at the International Film Festival,
and it's a doco on Midnight Oil. Tell us about it, Franciscamary.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Should do a variety of SAMs, right, it should reveal
to us.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Okay, Francisca, I'm sorry, I'm going to interrupt you right there.
For whatever reason, we have a terrible connection with your line.
So we'll just see if we can get that sort
of out and then we'll come back and get your
thoughts on that in just a moment. Yeah, So The
Hardest Line is showing in the National Film Festival. It's
about Midnight Oil and it's got heaps of really good
old archival footage of Minata or performing. So yeah, if

(02:04):
you are a Midnight Oil fan or you want to,
you know, go and go and follow them from the
earliest days through their incredible rise. The Hardest Line could
be a very good option. Also, after ten o'clock this morning,
as well as our interview with Jody Pico very much
looking forward to that, we're going to tell you about
this amazing new docco It's called the Chloe Ailing Story.

(02:26):
Remember she was that model who was kidnapped and ended
up being released and became a kind of media sensation.
But there's so much detail around that high profile case
that we don't really know a whole lot about. So
we're going to explain that to you after ten o'clock
this morning. But we reckon Franchisca is back and that
the line is good. Are you there.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Now?

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Say Peter Piper picked a peck of pick of peppers?
What did he do?

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Let's get on and talk about it. I really love
this film. I really do love this film, and I
think I love a good music documentary. And as I
was saying, it should do, thinks it should reveal your
information for us, it should appeal to a broader audience
than just a fan base of that particular band or artist.
And it should also have you, immediately when you finished it,

(03:20):
kind of revisiting the band or the artist's music. And
that absolutely happened with the Hardest Line for me tells
the story of Midnight Oil for the first time. Of course,
these guys kind of hit the seventies pop rock scene
in Sydney. They were they sort of had this hard
driving sound, was socially where lyrics they very much reflected

(03:43):
what was happening in Australia. They were sort of young
people rebellion gainst politics and all sorts of bits and pieces.
What I love about this doco was that everyone's involved.
So the band is involved. They take us through the
story and how they started, how they developed, how albums
and their sound changed, the highs and the lows, and

(04:03):
the great thing about it is they're not just talking heads.
They're not people sitting in a studio talking us through
this story. They've found some incredible archive footage which accompanies
their narration, so you really kind of get a sense
of who this band was. It's entertaining and it kind
of takes you on a little bit of a ride
through a period of time as well, and it takes,

(04:25):
as I said, it sort of you know, we follow
the band, and we also follow the musical development, We
follow Peter Garrett in to politics, and then of course
we take a look at some of those really memorable
moments where they did protests and things, and of course
probably the two thousand Sydney Olympics will come to mind
for people when they came out wearing like black pajamas
or black sweatpants with sorry written on them, because of

(04:47):
course they had They were very, very outspoken about the
relationship between Australia and at the Aborigines and things like that.
So it's a wonderful doco. It's really really well done.
You don't have to be a fan in Midnight oil
As playing in the New Zealand International Film Festival. I
am crossing my fingers that will come back because I
think it's really going to appeal to a kivy audience.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
That sounds so good. That sounds great. So that's the
hardest line. I'm glad that we're able to get you
on a bit of line to explain that. Francesca, let's
have another listen to the Instigators.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
The mayor.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
It's going to be holding our.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Party on election dag and there's going to be money there.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
And like none of your bombs have ever seen.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
It's your first job. I know what I'm doing. I'll
leave for a Chris change. Were're sixty. Good question.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
If I'm giving instructions and they're not doing enough, just
see they have a gun. Okay. This is The Instigators,
the Highest film starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. It's
on Apple TV plus. Tell Us about it.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
This is kind of a light, pretty low comedy host.
It's directed by Doug Lyman. This is the third project
he's done with Matt Damon. They were responsible for The
Born Identity, and the film kind of starts down a
little bit of Ocean's eleven and you think, oh, okay, cool,
where's this going to go? But this is not kind
of the slick or swanky high st film that you're

(06:06):
used to, and it's not kind of you know, the
Borne Identity was so sort of breathtaking with the action
that it provided us and everything. This is not that film.
This is a very This is a film about a
couple of guys played as you said, by Matt Damon
and Kasey Affleck, who really are quite useless. So this
is a heist that goes wrong. We're in Boston. There's
kind of a grip to it. And to be honest

(06:32):
with you, I kind of got to the end of
the film and I went almost the point of that, Yeah,
I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure. We had
a lot of fun. There's lots of great lines between
the two of them. They get on brilliantly. The performance
of the Fabulous It's packed with great cabinos and performances
by all sorts of people, but at the end of
it kind of what was the point of that? And

(06:54):
I think the point of it was it's to have
a lot of fun and to remind us that crime
doesn't pay. I think if you settle into this film, don't,
as I say, expect it to be slick and slanky,
like we've sort of seen from these guys before. This
is this is a film where they kind of underplay it.
It's quite deadpan. Casey Afflex numble really get to me.
It's more just to kind of sit back and watch

(07:14):
these watchers kind of unfold. It's a bit of light entertainment.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah right, Okay, cool. That's The Instigators. That's on Apple TV.
Plus The Hardest Line is the one showing in the
New Zealand International Film Festival.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks ed B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.