BAND ON THE RUN

Julia Parnell has done a fine job of dredging up the past of New Zealand rock. As a producer, she has been behind TV documentaries on the history of Dragon and the Exponents and made the leap last year to a cinematic feature, co-directing The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps.

All three were essentially survivors’ tales. In Phillipps’ case, the band history was interwoven with his contemporary health battles. It gave it a dramatic edge and made it less an exercise in cosy rock nostalgia and more a film about dashed dreams and picking up the pieces.

Parnell’s second Kiwi music feature is about another Dunedin band. Their story is rather different – and so is the tense. Parnell’s   spends much of its 90 minutes talking about the present and the future as well as covering the band’s 10 or so