JOHN FARNHAM: FINDING THE VOICE

Like most musician-based documentaries, your enjoyment comes from your connection to the material. While the film is supported by the Farnham family, with John and his wife appearing in audio recordings only, their two sons have brief video interviews, and the documentary's narrator is his friend and manager Glenn Wheatley's wife, Gaynor. If you are a fan you will know the relationship these people had over the years, but as someone who is largely an outsider it felt strange hearing about Farnham's rise to fame from friends and business partners and not the man himself or his immediate family members.

For myself, Farnham's relevancy comes from my mum so any kind of nostalgia is linked to her listening to his music growing up. I was not alive when Farnham was at his peak, and the documentary is truly for those who were there during that time, who remember these people, the concerts and the music. If you're not in that demographic this isn't trying to be the one-stop guide to the story of John Farnham; it's friends catching up and telling old stories, which works better if you were a part of the experience.

While the film understandably has interviews from Australian musicians like Jimmy Barnes, Daryl Braithwaite and even the late Olivia Newtown-John, it also feels the need to include international talent like Robbie Williams and Celine Dion, which considering for most the film we are with friends with the talent felt very strange and don't seem to have a very strong connection to Farnham. These are also so brief in the film's runtime, and Dion's interview especially taken out of context could literally be about any piece of music, making its oddness stand out even more.

'John Farnham: Finding the Voice' may not be the definitive look at the Aussie icon but it serves its purpose, taking those fans back to when Australia found its Voice!