Rock Critics, MIFF Reviewed, Rubber Soul Redux and Colin Farrell’s Sugar Rush

Episode 37 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie travels from Melbourne International Film Festival screenings to the changing state of music journalism, with a detour through elite sport, television drama and the strange joy of old-fashioned telephones.

Mackenzie has been deep in this year’s MIFF program, emerging with a handful of favourites from a packed international slate.

Congo Boy, directed by Rafiki Fariala, is the standout: a story of a 17-year-old Congolese refugee in the Central African Republic trying to hold his family together while pursuing music against formidable odds.

German coming-of-age drama Tomorrow, I’ll Be Brave also earns a recommendation. Centred on a 12-year-old boy negotiating first love, awkwardness and the brutal hierarchies of the schoolyard, it is a gentle, sharply observed story of that moment when childhood starts to give way to something more complicated.

Then there is Joy Bubbles, a documentary about the late blind American phone phreak who discovered he could whistle the tones needed to make free calls on the AT&T network. With perfect pitch, curiosity and a refusal to accept the limitations imposed on him, Joybubbles became an unlikely countercultural hero—and, by the sound of it, the subject of one of the festival’s warmest and most eccentric films.

Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire rounds out Mackenzie’s festival dispatch.

Based on the real 1977 hostage case involving Indianapolis property developer Tony Kiritsis, the film is described as dark, funny, violent and uncomfortably attuned to the American appetite for spectacle.

Bill Skarsgård delivers a compelling central performance as a man whose genuine grievance erupts into an outrageous and dangerous act.

Back in the music world, Wise pays tribute to the late Dave Marsh—an influential American critic, broadcaster and writer whose work for Creem, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and elsewhere helped define an era of music journalism. A friend of Lester Bangs, an early Bruce Springsteen champion and author of several books, Marsh represented a breed of critic whose knowledge, independence and access gave his writing real weight.

That legacy leads to a broader discussion about publicists, control and trust. In an age of promotional copy dressed up as journalism, the pair argue that independent criticism and genuinely curious interviewing matter more than ever.

The Beatles are never far away on On The Record, and this week brings news of an expanded Giles Martin version of Rubber Soul, due in October. The release will include an unheard John Lennon song from the 1965 period, along with fresh mixes designed to reveal more of McCartney’s bass playing and the album’s layered arrangements.

For Mackenzie, Rubber Soul remains one of the group’s great turning points: a record where the uncomplicated pop romance of the early years began giving way to darker, richer and more adventurous writing.

There is also a thoughtful diversion into sport after Wise attends the Bradman Lunch at the MCG.

Former Australian women’s cricket captain Meg Lanning speaks about confronting fear of failure, while former Test cricketer Jason Gillespie reflects on the need to work harder as his career unfolded.

Their comments spark a conversation about achievement, criticism, self-belief and the value of learning through failure.

On screen, Mackenzie catches up with Colin Farrell in Sugar, finding much to admire in its noir atmosphere, fine cast and beautiful blue Corvette Stingray—though Wise remains unconvinced by its much-discussed plot turn.

The pair also return to Ted Lasso, now focused on a women’s football team and the familiar resistance that still meets women’s sport.

Episode 37 is a timely reminder the best stories often come from people who keep questioning the systems around them.