The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps: Film Review

The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps: Film Review

Director: Julia Parnell

A good documentary piques your interest in your subject, answers your questions and gives you insight; a great documentary makes you fall in love with your subject, makes you aware of something you never knew of before, and sends you scuttling to find out more.

Sadly, to those outside of New Zealand and never around for the key moments of the Chills, The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps is a documentary that falls into the slightly lacking if you don't already have pre-knowledge of your subject.

What director..... is aiming to do is at best, present a tale of someone who went through the musical machine and has hit the highs and the lows, and get them to reflect back on it. Throw in a medical character arc for Phillipps as well as the feeling there's a lot of unfinished business and it could, in all honesty, have been an intriguing meditation on the merits and perils of the industry and those who are chewed up and spit out.

But what The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps doesn't manage to do is fully convey the reasons why the band were so beloved, other than to show repeated amounts of concert footage attended by hardly anyone and have members of the band state they were so great. Earlier contributions from the likes of Neil Finn are quickly phased out, in lieu of spending time with Phillipps as he deals with the fallout from Hepatitis C and reflections back on some of his work.

It's here the humanity of the piece comes out; of a man who's lost his way a little, who's filled his house with inexorable amounts of junk masquerading as collections, and of a man whose desire to be arty sees him spray painting mummified cats. And it's here the most interesting kernels of the film emerge, only to be left - upon leaving this film, I still have no full idea why Phillipps is so alone in his darkest days, other than hints of how his behaviour pushed others away.

That's the prime gripe of The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps: it forces you to make assumptions about its enigmatic subject and proffers you hints of what artistry demands of you within the business.

Whilst it's nicely shot, conveys both the merits and perils of its Dunedin setting thanks to Phillipps' cluttered house and the pressure cooker weather elements, The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps is a frustratingly indecisive watch; by failing to take a stance on its subject, it's sadly too obtuse to be anything more than niche appeal.