Swagger of Thieves
Over a decade in the making, Swagger of Thieves follows rock band Head Like a Hole from the top of the charts to the bottom of a needle. Staring down their age, two pals and the main guts of HLAH, frontman Nigel Booga Beazley and 'co- conspirator' Nigel Regan strut the hard road out of hell, fighting to reconnect and return their band to past glory, amidst disgruntled band mates, a changed music industry, and disappointed wives. Struggling to place past addictions and sabotaged dreams behind them in their continuing quest for rock music relevance, the ever-collapsing binary stars of any Head Like a Hole lineup, are certain (not) to polish their legacy here. Swagger of Thieves captures what it means to be in a band with a reputation. Unrelentingly raw, wild and honest, to the point of being one of the most insightful music documentaries ever made. Essential viewing. New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF), Melbourne International Documentary Film Festival (MIDFF)
guitartech@guitartech
I have no doubt Swagger of Thieves will be regarded as not just a great Kiwi doco but also one of the world's great rock documentaries. Boshier has made one of the finest documentaries this country has produced. It's dirty. It's raw. It's rock'n'roll.
**- Karl Puschmann. New Zealand Herald.**
It made my eyes water, to be honest. Me. A hardened journalist, who has seen a lot of distressing things during a long career in the media trenches. But the sight of something so vulnerable and tender in close contact with something so sharp and dangerous, well... I had to take a few deep breaths.
**- Grant Smithies. Sunday Star Times.**
It's a film about addiction, death, theft and betrayal. About wounds and feuds that have never been healed. About appalling behaviour, chances squandered and people used and discarded. The title is savagely appropriate.
**- Graeme Tuckett. Stuff.**
Swagger of Thieves is a masterpiece in film making - watching this made me realize that in a perfect world you get the band-doco you deserve. This is truly and utterly Head Like a Hole, it's dirty and real - full of tensions and delusions but with a strange magic attached.
**- Simon Sweetman. Off the Tracks.**
It's an astonishing film. It's rugged and raw, and emotional journey for anyone with even a passing remembrance of the 90's rock act who formed in 1992.
**-Chris Schulz. New Zealand Herald.**