Mystify: Michael Hutchence (2019) User Reviews

Baby don't cry?

[ian-39125 · 8/10 · 12 July 2019]

It's said a great singer is great because they connect with their listener in a way that transcends a simple pitch perfect delivery of the notes. Maybe even that a truth is sent and a truth is felt in return. I knew nothing of this when Michael and INXS first kicked into my life but this film helps me understand why they moved me like so many haven't. The film makers know their art also. It's moving. Better than I ever imagined it could be.

tribute to the INXS frontman

[babybuletgani · 8/10 · 31 October 2019]

Director Richard Lowenstein's tribute to the INXS frontman paints an affectionate, intimate and immersive portrait of a fallen rock star, disentangling him from the tabloid hot air surrounding his 1997 death. Archive footage and new interviews (friends, family, bandmates and lovers, Kylie included) humanise Hutch, giving equal weighting to his charisma, sensitivity and sensual pursuits. But it's the detailed, cumulative effects of a random assault, career crises and family troubles that hit hardest, creating a grim, palpable sense of how trapped he felt on his final night.

Interesting, But Truth Seems Frustratingly Out Of Reach

[david-meldrum · 7/10 · 23 January 2020]

A film that doesn't quite provide the insight into its subject that it would like to, and one which has little use for the music other than as a soundtrack. Despite all the interviews with - it feels like - just about everybody around him, the real depths of his personality and his art seem frustratingly out of reach.

Sad story...

[garethcrook · 7/10 · 29 February 2020]

Everyone has a guilty pleasure right? Mine I think could be INXS. They were never really cool were they. Marketed as a boyband, probably due to Hutchence's looks, they were more pop than rock and to a young teenage me, that wasn't something to really identify with. That debut LP though, 'Kick' was, is fantastic. This isn't a music documentary, it's focus as the title suggests is purely Michael. A troubled man, right from an early age, an artist belying the public persona, but it's all masked, even here, in the decadence of fame. I guess the trouble with him as a performer is he did come off as a Jagger impersonator on stage and as the bad boy tabloid stuff took over, it all became a bit of a car crash with an unlikeable character. This film goes pretty in depth though, adds some colour to those perceptions, with what's become a familiar documentary style, pure archive footage, photo montages with voices layered over the top, all cut with the obligatory light leaks. It's very effective though. The slog of world tours, the opportunities of fame, both positive and negative are covered, but there's a ton of detail I had no idea of, an almost secret solo album for one. Much is made of his relationship with Kylie Minogue and it is beautifully honest and revealing. That's not the take away here though. It's an attack in '92, a fight with a taxi-driver that resulted in a serious head injury that changed him, not only losing his sense of smell and taste, but with it his fun loving nature and personality. You can see it in his eyes, it's truly tragic and as the tabloid sponsored Paula Yates years unfolds, it becomes a very difficult watch and a damning take on the UK media. I'm not going to hold him up as a musical genius, he was just a good front man, singing indulgent pop rock. He was just a bloke though, a person like any other. We don't allow our pop stars to have depth do we, they're a picture on a wall, a dance move in a video, a sound bite, a sad story.

This is more than a documentary...

[stephenmcgowan · 10/10 · 16 October 2019]

...it sets the record straight on public perception.

In his final days, Hutchence was portrayed by the media in the worst of ways. This documentary brings to light the real truth of that time and indeed his life.

The media threw everything but the truth at this story back in the day. They had everyone convinced, but they didn't know the truth.

If anything, it just goes to show how influential the media are. Even me, a boy who lived and breathed the Australian rock band for a decade, was at odds with Hutchence in the mid 90's and the media's take seemed plausible.

How wrong they were. Richard Lowenstein has restored the credibility to this fallen idol by populating the years with facts, some of which only came to light during the editing of the documentary.

This is an important documentary, especially if you're were or are still an INXS fan. There are also lessons in just how powerful the media are with public perception of celebrities.

The damage that they are responsible for. I'm glad that after 22 years this goes a long way to setting the record straight.

Watch this documentary and celebrate the life of a guy who was a wonderful talent. Because you've probably forgotten how good he was and also will discover how good a human being he actually was.

Thank you for the memories Michael.

A tragic end to a talent but a doc that lacks a lot.

[stevelomas-69401 · 7/10 · 4 January 2020]

It's clear that MH was deeply troubled and suffered poor mental health. It's clear that he was exploited by many over the years. It's also clear that INXS were a pop band that was nothing without Michael and Paula was not the world's best influence. In the end though the doc is very one sided/whitewashed bringing nothing new to the table.

Emotional Beautiful Sad

[dalleya · 10/10 · 17 July 2019]

Don't think I even moved from my seat I was so engrossed in Michael's story. I loved how it was made with just footage of Michael and his life, and the voices of those in his life just talking about their time with him. I was so emotional at the end I could not hold back my tears for such a beautiful human being. So grateful to see this documentary about a man and his his band who brought so much joy in their music to so many.

The sad life and times of Michael Hutchence

[LauraAnnG · 31 May 2020]

What a sad story.

I didn't really know the details of Michael's life -- just the broad strokes painted in the covers of the tabloids and MTV. I liked their music and Don't Change is one of my top favorite songs of all time.

Hutchence, like a lot of famous people, was exploited. This seems to happen over and over again with musicians. They are so young when they start out and there are predators whose sole goal is to make money off of their talent and abilities. They are surrounded by sycophants. In a way Hutchence's life and times remind me a bit of Kurt Cobain.

To learn of the nature of his injuries from the accident and how it seems his life eventually spirals out of control toward its inevitable conclusion is heartbreaking. That being said, the documentary ends wonderfully in a surprisingly uplifting manner.

This is worth watching.

Watch It Like Thieves

[damianphelps · 6/10 · 22 January 2023]

Michael Hutchence is clearly one, or rather was, one of the better front men going around at his time. It is a popular habit though that people seem to get more talented when they are dead.

The film does its best to build up his talent and thus his legend, perhaps to justify its own existence (why make a movie about an ok performer?).

Like many pics of this ilk it fails to really get in to the nitty gritty, chosing to gloss over the story rather than explore it.

As a doco its ok but is clearly lifted by the music, which I did enjoy.

Fans of his and the band will lap it up, others may find it a hit or miss :)

Well made documentary by a producer who really knew Michael.

[paul-nicholson · 10/10 · 5 October 2019]

I saw Mystify today at the BFI, with Richard doing a Q&A. Amazing well made documentary film, so recommended. It's emotional, and certainly not a celebration so don't expect to come out feeling happy, but I feel I learnt so much about Michael and why he was the great person he was.

A must see

[jacqs-968-695359 · 10/10 · 5 July 2019]

A must see for any INXS fan or those who just grew up with them. Thank you Richard for gathering and creating such a special film.

Love MH but this is disjointed

[oliviafarag · 5/10 · 31 August 2019]

I love Michael Hutchence as a musical artist and had read his biography "Lost boy of INXS" by his sister, Tina, which was an excellent read. Unfortunately for me, this documentary fell very short of expectations. We don't actually get to see or hear a lot of Michael, other than what's already out there on YouTube etc, and the editing was extremely choppy and disjointed. Sound quality was very bad too, with alternate scenes of closed captions and non-closed captions. I'm not old or deaf, but would have appreciated clarity on the muffled voice over.

Mystify

[anitasealey · 10/10 · 24 July 2019]

A beautiful life lived fully, shared by those closest and dearest to Michael Hutchence and his own personal film collection, thank you to all who shared personal moments in telling his story. Sweet moments shown and a insight into who he was away from the stage - and his love of life .Watched this movie in a room full of silence with the odd tear heard, his brilliance still revered by many, his lyrical genius in writing, an amazing life from bullied teen to loved all over the world then and still now - an extraordinary talented man.

I hope Mystify gets a cinema release in the UK

[paul-nicholson · 10/10 · 7 June 2019]

I really hope this film gets a cinema release in the UK. Websites state that it is to be aired on the BBC but seeing Hutchence performances on the big screen would be far better. Fingers crossed.

Update Sept 2019. The film is showing as part of the BFI London Film Festival on 5 & 6 October in London. I'm going! :) Details at BFI website.

A stunner!

[michaelmouse1 · 10/10 · 6 July 2019]

This extraordinary Australian (documentary) film weaves its deeply moving tale using expertly edited film footage from across Michael Hutchence's far too few years, to present an audience with a flawlessly flowing movie. It is a story of the complexity and often harshness of life for so many brilliantly talented creatives whose intelligence is sometimes too much for a single brain to handle. The commentary is all soundbites from his friends and associates and his story unfolds in pretty much chronological order. 'Mystify' is also a touching treatment of depression and how it can grab hold and destroy in some cases. Although we know how the story will end, it is handled with compassion and nuance and is quite powerful. I'd thoroughly recommend this movie. It is moving, rather than depressing. We can all learn lessons from the lives of others and 'Mystify' teaches us lessons at every turn.

A Mystifying Mesmerising Magician...

[Xstal · 9/10 · 2 February 2022]

An outstanding documentary about an incredibly talented guy, emotional and heart-breaking and will leave you misty eyed, with footage that will open doors to a person misconstrued, who had the power to mystify, fulfil dreams with plenitude.

TV documentary

[perobassman · 4/10 · 13 July 2019]

Save your money and wait for it to come on free TV then you can fall asleep at home in comfort

Beautiful. Revelatory.

[bowieec · 10/10 · 29 December 2019]

It's been over 22 years since Michael Hutchence of INXS took his life. This 2019 documentary was worth that wait. Beautifully made. The team behind this doc has included so much stunning footage shot by Michael himself, and by those around him, as well as file footage of the time. They've compiled a work of art and a realistic portrait of Hutchence's life. There is so much we learn in this about his final few dramatic and tumultuous years. There are contemporary interviews included, but no video / talking heads of them speaking now. This was the right choice by the filmmakers. It's simply contextual narration over the footage of the time. It was painstakingly edited/produced, and one of the best documents on a musical personality I've seen in decades. Highly recommend.

Disappear

[blauregenbogen · 10/10 · 16 October 2019]

Great musician with a brilliant vocal. Pretty nice and genuine guy a must say ,down to earth. Bubbly and funny,enjoying the time of his life . Till the accident in Denmark,had a big influence on him and his personality,such a shame . Poor thing . Then Paula Yates come to his life and all went somewhere on the Sahara with plenty dunes too cross ,but it's such long way to reach The Oasis...also media push him far away from The Oasis . Brilliant music " Need You Tonight "

Amazing Profile of Amazing Talent

[se825-1 · 10/10 · 9 June 2022]

I was a moderate INXS fan all these years and details surrounding the death of Michael Hutchence always bothered me. I was angry that he chose to exit this world so young.

But I forgot about him.

Then Mystify comes along and does a spectacular job of telling us what happened to Michael. Wow. Had no idea. And shame on the tabloids for helping him along on that demise.

He was a wonderful talent. So underrated. I miss his voice. He was so masculine but so tender as well. And what a lyricist. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

The doc really subverts the typical rock doc narrative. Think it's all about sex drugs & rock and roll? Think again. Great job Richard Lowenstein. You did your friend justice.

I cried for a week after I saw this movie. What happened to him shouldn't have happened. May his soul Rest In Peace.

A very well made and highly watchable documentary

[valleyjohn · 9/10 · 30 August 2020]

My only period in time when i was into INXS was pretty much the same as most people and that was when the KICK album was released. A rare album where every song was great and could have been a hit. I didn't know much about Michael Hutchence himself other than he's girlfriends were Kylie Minogue and Paula Yates and the rumours of how he died.

This is a complimentary documentary that documents his life and talks to the people who knew him and loved him.

He came across as a really nice guy who was hounded by the press which ultimately killed him and it's really sad to see what the scummy British tabloid press did. It's what they have always done and still do.

Thankfully the horrible rumours of how he died , spread by the gutter press were not gone into in this film .

I was totally into this documentary . It had me hooked from the start and even if you were not an INXS fan i recommend you watch this.

Same old

[superfox_888 · 5/10 · 25 November 2019]

This documentary is billed as featuring behind-the-scenes footage that Michael filmed himself.

That's pretty much the only interesting thing about it. It adds nothing to the narrative nor the mythology of Michael Hutchence despite featuring voiceovers from former girlfriends and his manager.

One for fans only.

Open All Mikes

[Lejink · 8/10 · 5 April 2023]

I came to this documentary on the life and career of INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence after just watching a similar programme on his partner and the mother of his child, Paula Yates, who also died tragically young, although later than Hutchence and then through listening to some INXS music.

The one time I saw the band live in person was when they announced a surprise warm-up gig at Glasgow's low-capacity, celebrated all-standing Barrowlands venue in 1988 and I have to tell you they were terrific, literally up-close and personal with Hutchence a real live-wire on stage.

I found this 100 minute long video-biography on the singer to be mostly informative and certainly sympathetic to its subject. Born to unconventional parents, he grew up a sensitive but happy child. When his mother separated from his father and went for a time to New York, she took an apparently willing young Michael along with her, leaving his kid brother behind with his dad.

Growing into adulthood, he meets up with his future songwriting partner in INXS, lead guitarist Andrew Fariss and we learn that unlike most pop stars he was a deep thinker and an avid reader, especially of philosophy which occasionally filtered into his lyrics.

The band worked hard, touring Australia back and forth and achieved early success there. However it wasn't until they hooked up with hotshot British record producer Chris Thomas to make their fifth album "Listen Like Thieves" that they really started getting noticed globally, achieving massive worldwide success with the succeeding Thomas-produced album "Kick" released in 1987. After that the group's success gradually receded, which was brutally highlighted when he suffered a very public humiliation some years later, courtesy of the yobbish mouth of Oasis's Noel Gallagher at a televised awards ceremony.

With access to lots of private video footage, some of it almost intimate, his story is reflected more through the women in his life than through his fellow band-members. I suppose when you consider that his famous girl-friends, who, besides Yates, included Kylie Minogue and Helena Christensen, were all so free and willing to share the stories of their romances with him, you get a picture of a deep, affectionate but vulnerable person. There also appeared to be complex relationships with his since remarried mother, father, older sister and younger brother, but it was an external event, when he took a punch from an irate Parisian taxi-driver which caused him to fall and hit his head off the ground, making him lose his sense of smell and taste, which seemed to additionally lead him to sometimes violent mood-swings.

What appeared to come across right from the beginning, was a dread of being left alone. The one shining light in his later life was undoubtedly the birth of his and Yates's daughter Tiger Lily but ultimately when Yates lost a court case brought against her by her ex-husband Bob Geldof, effectively preventing her taking her U. K. based children, including Tiger Lily, to see Hutchence in Oz, this appears to have driven him to committing suicide in his hotel room at the end of a dark, lonely night for him.

The documentary cut back and forth a little with timelines, perhaps used a little too much ambient backing music and was light on his relationships with his fellow INXS band-mates, plus I always prefer video rather than audio interviews, but nevertheless this was a powerful and at times moving portrait of an underrated musician but sadly, an unhappy man.

I liked that the film eschewed inserts from celebrity talking heads gushing about what a great performer or human being he was. The famous contributors here, including Minogue and Christenson, but also Bono, personally knew and had relationships with him. This made his story all the more personal and for me anyway, accessible.

I definitely class Hutchence, with his looks, voice and moves as one of rock's best front-men. Because he didn't leave a suicide note, there will always be speculation about whether or not he deliberately took his own life. What isn't in doubt is that he was a talented artist who in the end sadly succumbed to his inner demons way before his time.

R. I. P. Mr Hutchence.

Not a fan of the band but...

[tgcristiani · 8/10 · 14 December 2021]

I'm very interested in biographies and to learn more about how incredible people just made it. I've read a ton of biographies and viewed a million of documentaries.

I watched this documentary after a the newspaper 'El Pais' mentioned it. I wasn't expecting much specially for not nothing the band besides its name.

But I have to say it was one of the documentaries about musicians that most touched me.... I'm depressed for over a week now.

A well rounded look at an amazingly talented artist

[bbewnylorac · 8/10 · 25 November 2019]

As a good friend of the late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, filmmaker Richard Lowenstein gets amazing, unprecedented access to home movies, personal recordings of Hutchence's thoughts when he was alive, and interviews with close friends and family of Hutchence. The result is a wonderful and fitting tribute to a rock star whose music and charisma had a huge impact on his generation. People such as lover Kylie Minogue and manager Martha Troup speak in depth about what Hutchence was really like, and what drove him. The consensus is that he was an artist at heart - shy as a boy but a showman as an adult, who write his own lyrics and melodies and wanted to be famous, but who like so many before him, suffered the downsides of fame. Hutchence loved his parents, but the documentary shows how they had deep flaws, for which he forgave them eventually. The part I don't quite understand is about Hutchence's relationship with Paula Yates, and the circumstances that led to Hutchence's death in a Sydney hotel. There were some very messy circumstances, and I'm not sure this doco provides many insights, aside from suggesting that Hutchence was down because he agonised over the prospect of breaking up Yates and Bob Geldof, and thereby hurting their three daughters, which may have reminded Hutchence of the pain of his own parents' split. I don't know about that. But maybe we'll never know, because Yates and Hutchence are no longer with us. Hutchence and Yates were, as someone points out, bad influences on one another. It's so sad, in any case, that Hutchence had such a terrible fall from his golden early years.