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In his latest doco, Melbourne filmmaker Brian McKenzie develops the observational documentary style employed in his earlier films,The Last Days Work (MIFF86) and I'll be Home for Christmas (MIFF "85). It was while filming the latter - a rambling look at homeless men in Melbourne, that McKenzie first met Kelvin, whose story grew too big to be contained in the earlier film Thus Kelvin and His Friends - a low key portrait of the lifestyle of a taciturn bachelor in his forties who lives alone in a St Kilda boarding house - was made, with McKenzie filming his subject at erratic intervals over a five year period of time, in between which he made his impressive feature-film debut -With Love to the Person Next to Me (MFF '87)
Kelvin has none of the trappings of conventional existence (a house, family, career), but his obsessive interest in physical culture, recent German-Jewish history and born-again Christianity have given him direction in his life. A number of friends shed light on Kelvin's life and personality
McKenzie avoids the journalistic approach of most documentary work and leaves the audience to ponder the exact nature of Kelvin's enigmatic character. Is he a religious crank? A social outcast? A saint?