Francesca Rudkin gives you three good reasons why Rialto Channel should be on your must-watch list in May.
This month on Rialto Channel, New Zealand singer-songwriter Jan Hellriegel presents ‘Moments in Music’, a series of documentaries that tell the colourful stories of Oasis, Janis Joplin and Gun’s N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan.
It’s So Easy and Other Lies
Premiering: Wednesday 17th May, 8.30pm
If you can’t be bothered reading Guns N’ Roses’ founding member and bass player Duff McKagan’s memoir, then this documentary gives you a good run down of McKagan’s turbulent past. Made up of archival footage, interviews and inserts of McKagan reading his autobiography like an MTV Unplugged session, you get the good and the bad; the rise to fame and fortune and addiction and divorce. It’s a classic rock and roll story handsomely put together that will appeal to lovers of the genre as well as Guns N’ Roses’ fans.
Oasis: Supersonic
Premiering: Wednesday 24th May, 8.30pm
From the Oscar-winning producers of Amy comes this revealing and entertaining look at the meteoric rise of seminal 90s rock band Oasis. No one spins a yarn better than brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, and gee, they have some good yarns to tell. In Oasis: Supersonic, they look back at the first few successful years candidly regaling us with tales of wild debauchery, the inspiration for their music and sibling rivalry, all of which constantly threaten to destroy the band. This film will have you reaching for an Oasis album moments after viewing.
Janis: Little Girl Blue
Premiering: Wednesday 31 st May, 8.30pm
Amy Berg’s (West of Memphis) intimate and fascinating documentary about Janis Joplin, one of the most revered and possibly misunderstood rock and roll singers of all time, is a real treat. Joplin died of a heroin overdose in 1970 at the age of 27, and in this film Berg lets Joplin do the talking through letters she wrote to family and friends. Joplin was a talented and fierce pioneer with a great sense of humour, and yet she lived her life at the mercy of her addictions to both applause and drugs. This is a film worthy of an icon.
For more information on all the films screening on Rialto Channel SKY TV 39, see www.rialtochannel.co.nz.
