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Topp Twins Untouchable Girls (Film)
Rating: PG
Running Time: 84
Country: New Zealand
Cast: Jools Topp, Linda Topp
Distributor: Rialto
Film Worth: $12.50
Release Date: November 26, 2009
An uplifting documentary, with a great message, music and laughs.
"On paper, they should be commercial death," says comedy writer Paul Horan in this documentary about The Topp Twins. But as the film shows, these comedic, yodelling, left-leaning lesbian identical twin sisters are adored by all - even conservative folks.
The twins - New Zealanders Lynda and Jools Topp, now in their early fifties - had an idyllic upbringing on a dairy farm in Waikato, on NZ's North Island. From teenage buskers to the stars of their own TV show, this film chronologically traces their lives using current interviews and archival footage.
It's an interesting journey which, on one level, works as a potted history of political activism in NZ. But it's also about gay and lesbian pride. An interview where the twins' mum and dad discuss the siblings' coming out is unintentionally hilarious, although Mr. and Mrs. Topp emerge as accepting parents and good eggs.
Other interviewees include New Zealand's ex-PM Helen Clark, Australian comic John Clarke, and British musician Billy Bragg, who describes The Topp Twins as an "anarchist variety act."
The Topps see themselves as singers that are funny as opposed to comics that sing, and here lies the secret to their brilliance - gorgeous harmonies that, perhaps, only siblings can muster. It's The Everly Brothers meets The Indigo Girls with political and comic agendas. It's their music, which usually has amusing lyrics but can also be quite moving, that makes this doco especially entertaining.
At the heart of the film is The Topp Twins' joie de vivre. The footage of them as buskers is especially enjoyable, as is watching them all grown-up, giggling like kids as they put on their make-up before a gig. They're an inspiring pair, and The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, which has its serious moments, is as uplifting and as joyous as its subjects.