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Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls @ the Penthouse

It was a gorgeous Easter Sunday. No wind. I picked some apples and tomatoes first thing, wrote like crazy. Picked the most perfect late quinces for a mate, who brought me some coffee grounds for the compost.

And then, off to the Penthouse. Not a huge audience, but very diverse, from some little kids to the very old, couples—some apparently heterosexual, some apparently gay, some recognisable activists and some (since the film's 'a love letter to New Zealand' and we New Zealanders don't like to mention this group the next word's a whisper) intellectuals. Maybe Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is going to follow a known pattern with 'women's' films, and it will take the audience a little while to go to see it. And a wet day or two. 

At the end, just before the credits, the cinema was silent. And out of the silence came a single voice saying "Lovely". And it was. Just lovely. 


I was especially moved when I saw and heard singer, songwriter and activist Mereana Pitman, up on stage singing with the Twins. Maybe her appearance will inspire someone to make a documentary about her. Or if they've made it already, I hope to see it soon.

And I want to see Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls again. It left me wanting more, hoping that the DVD will include the full concert that's the backbone of the film, and maybe more about how the Topps work together when they write their songs, how they started to write songs all those years ago. All I heard is that they've realised that nothing much rhymes with 'cancer', but maybe I missed something. So I'll be back.

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