13
May/11

THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS

13
May/11

The untouchable Topp Twins seem destined to take over the world

THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS (Leanne Pooley, 2009)
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between Fifth Ave. & University Pl.
Opens Friday, May 13
212-924-3363
www.topptwins.com
www.cinemavillage.com

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is a stirring look at a pair of comic yodeling lesbian activist anarchist Kiwi twins who have been entertaining, enlightening, and educating New Zealand audiences for thirty years. Starting out in 1981 as buskers, Lynda and Jools Topp quickly became stars in their native homeland, hosting their own television variety series and touring the country, playing music and telling jokes that continue to examine the social, cultural, and political landscape of New Zealand and the world. In their songs and through such characters as the Two Kens, Camp Mother and Camp Leader, the Posh Socialites, the Ginghams, the Bowling Ladies, and Brenda and Raelene — as well as themselves, just a couple of good-hearted down-home country farm girls — the Topps fight against discrimination of all kinds, performing to a remarkably mixed fan base. In the documentary, director Leanne Pooley gets the Topps to open up on camera for the first time in their career, discussing their personal lives, talking about their significant others, and revealing the pain they shared when one of them got cancer. Pooley builds the documentary around an intimate concert in which the Topps give special introductions to their songs and invite many of their friends and colleagues onstage to sing with them; these same friends and colleagues share their own thoughts and stories about the Topps with Pooley. Also giving their opinions on the Topps are their proud parents as well as the Topps themselves, but as the beloved characters mentioned above. Produced by Diva Films, The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls shows Lynda and Jools Topp to be anything but divas; in the title song, they sing, “We’re untouchable, untouchable, untouchable girls / We’re stroppy, we’re aggressive, we’ll take over the world,” and indeed, a world run by a a pair of comic yodeling lesbian activist anarchist Kiwi twins might not be such a bad thing. (Jools and Lynda will appear in person at Cinema Village for the 7:00 and 9:15 shows on Friday and Saturday night of opening weekend, including a Q&A moderated by Melissa Silverstein following the 7:00 screening on May 13.)