- Overview
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)
- Release Date
17 May 2018
- DirectingJulian Boshier
- Budget
$0.00
- Revenue
$0.00
- Stars
Videos
User Reviews
See moreguitartech
23 June 2021
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.**
More Like This
Billy Elliot
County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with...
See more
Angèle
Belgian pop star Angèle reflects on her life and hopes as she finds balance amid the tears, joys and loneliness of fame. Told through her own words.
See more
The The - The Comeback Special - Live at the Royal Albert Hall
The Comeback Special documents The The's triumphant Royal Albert Hall Concert on 5th June 2018. The Royal Albert Hall concert was the first of a...
See more
Kolya
After a fictitious marriage with a Russian emigrant, Cellisten Louka, a Czech man, must suddenly take responsibility for her son. However, it’s not...
See more
Hultsfred Festival 1991
Documentary following the planning and execution of Sweden's biggest music festival. Interviews with festival staff are followed by interviews and...
See more
There Is No Modern Romance
There Is No Modern Romance follows New York indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs as they support their cult classic debut Fever to Tell on the road in...
See more
The Rolling Stones - Totally Stripped
Totally Stripped is a newly revised version of the documentary that was originally made to coincide with the release of The Rolling Stones Stripped...
See more
Outermost Radio
Outermost Radio is a feature-length documentary that takes an intimate look at a community on the tip of Cape Cod, far from the mainland and out of...
See more
Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin'
An account of the short life of genius musician Jimi Hendrix (1942-70), probably the most talented and influential guitarist of the twentieth...
See more
22-17
A narrator embarks on a retrospective journey into the final months of school with their best friends. Over five chapters and an epilogue, they...
See more
School of Rock
Fired from his band and hard up for cash, guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn finagles his way into a job as a fifth-grade substitute teacher at a...
See more
Love Parade: When Love Learned to Dance
At the end of the Cold War, something new arised that should influence an entire generation and express their attitude to life. It started with an...
See more
Little River Band: Live Exposure
Released on DVD for the very first time, this magical concert was filmed at the Summit in Huston, Texas on October 7 1981. Features the hits: It's...
See more
The Business of Recovery
The Business of Recovery examines the untold billions that are being made off of families in crisis. With little regulation or science, addiction...
See more
Leftover Feelings: A Studio B Revival
Two Nashville music icons, John Hiatt and Jerry Douglas, combine their talents during the pandemic to record the album "Leftover Feelings" in...
See more
In Search of Mozart
Made to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, IN SEARCH OF MOZART is the first feature-length documentary on Mozart's life. Produced...
See more
Karen Dalton: In My Own Time
Blues and folk singer Karen Dalton was a prominent figure in 1960s New York. Idolized by Bob Dylan and Nick Cave, Karen discarded the traditional...
See more