The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls

(New Zealand, 2009, 84 mins, 35mm)

Wisconsin Premiere

editor: Tim Woodhouse
directors of photography: Leon Narbey, Wayne Vinten
musical director: David Long
producer: Arani Cuthbert

Comedy writer Paul Horan says: “I remember a guy from New York saying to me, ‘So, in New Zealand, who’s the big comedy act in New Zealand?’ and I said ‘Some yodeling, lesbian twins.’ And that point he said, ‘Oh look, there’s someone I know,’ and ran off. Because on paper, they should not work.” On stage (and on screen) Jools and Lynda Topp work beautifully. They are sisters who care about each other, who have spent their lives singing and hamming it up. The farm girls started on the sidewalks of New Zealand’s cities, busking for change, and appeared at political protests opposing apartheid and Maori discrimination. This documentary shows us all the Topps’ incarnations, for they have also developed a mad set of stage characters (two old biddies dressed in whites for lawn bowling; a pair of dapper but paunchy middle-aged pub fellows). The film has sophisticated production values, including a smart concert set connecting the sections together. Home movies and footage from their shows is woven throughout, covering such hilarious moments as their performance tour of small-town New Zealand in a tractor-drawn gypsy caravan. “Musically, the pair resemble those American pop icons Phil and Don Everly, inasmuch as they sound like one voice harmonizing with itself. During an ’80s period in which they wore slicked hair and suits, they actually looked like the Everlys. They attain a similar vocal purity only siblings seem able to achieve, which gives their Country-flavored music a keening, aching quality. It makes the Topps a real double threat: Their audience can choke up, or choke with laughter.” – John Anderson, Variety Winner, Audience Award, 2009 Toronto Film Festival. Opening Night Special Presentation.

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