Official Selection - Out of Competition 2019 / Mystify Michael Hutchence / Australia 2019
A documentary journey into the complicated inner world of Michael Hutchence, the charismatic frontman of the Australian band INXS, whose popularity peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Director Richard Lowenstein elegantly combines home movies and news reports with concert footage and interviews with friends, colleagues, and former girlfriends – the only ones to whom the famous singer revealed his true self.
A feature-length documentary dedicated to Michael Hutchence (1960-1997), the complicated and fragile lead singer of the Australian rock band INXS, who died before his time. Despite his stardom, Hutchence revealed his true self to only a few. The film describes his journey from a fractured family background to the peaks of rock stardom and the years of living as a public object of desire. Then came the depths of depression. After an accident that occurred one night in Copenhagen the singer was never the same. He lost his sense of smell and taste, and his personality changed. He died at the age of 37. Director Richard Lowenstein, who now tells the frontman’s story, directed most of INXS’s music videos and cast Hutchence in the lead of his 1986 film Dogs in Space.
Pavel Klusák
108 min / Color, Black & White, DCP
European premiere
Director Richard Lowenstein
/ Screenplay Richard Lowenstein
/ Dir. of Photography Andrew de Groot
/ Music Warren Ellis
/ Editor Richard Lowenstein, Lynn-Maree Milburn, Tayler Martin
/ Producer Maya Gnyp, John Battsek, Sue Murray, Mark Fennessy, Richard Lowenstein
/ Production Ghost Pictures
/ Sales Dogwoof
Richard Lowenstein (b. 1959, Melbourne, Australia). Selected filmography: Strikebound (1984), White City (1985), Dogs In Space (1986), U2: Lovetown (1989, doc.), Say a Little Prayer (1993), He Died with Felafel In His Hand (2001), Autoluminescent: Rowland S. Howard (2011, doc.), Ecco Homo (2015, doc.), Mystify: Michael Hutchence (2019, doc.)
Dogwoof
Ground Floor, 19 - 23 Ironmonger Row, EC1V 3QN, London
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 020 725 362 44
E-mail: [email protected]
Tayler Martin
Film Editor
Richard Lowenstein
Film Director
Chris Thomas
Protagonist
First-hand brews throughout the year.
Be among the first to learn about upcoming events and other news. We only send the newsletter when we have something to say.
