The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls | Film review

HAT'S ENTERTAINMENT The Topp Twins show off their millinery taste.

Photo: Facets Cinematheque

The yodeling lesbian sister act from New Zealand gets an affectionate close-up in this documentary-cum-concert film by BBC and PBS veteran Pooley. The gregarious Lynda and Jools Topp have enjoyed life together at almost every turn: a wholesome childhood on their loving parents’ farm; a short stint at 17 in the then women’s corps of the army (“sort of like a pajama party, with guns,” Lynda recalls); busking on Auckland’s streets. Even protest rallies are remembered fondly.

Their country-music fame grew along with their political commitments, as they supported Maori and gay rights and opposed nuclear weapons and apartheid. Still activists in middle age, the singers lob pointed observations yet don’t alienate audiences, who cheerfully interact with a repertoire of comic personae the twins incarnate in traditional music-hall style.

A ribald microcosm of Kiwi eccentrics, these costumed characters—ranging from the burly, business-suited two Kens to a couple of posh tippling socialites—were for years mainstays of the Topps’s hit television show. The series and film were both produced by longtime manager Arani Cuthbert, which explains why this at times feels like a cozy 50th-birthday commemorative special. But there’s ample reason for celebration, as Jools battles and overcomes breast cancer, a fitting capper to a genuinely feel-good movie.