Our boy

A new documentary about the man with the golden voice poses as many questions as it answers.

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MARLON WILLIAMS: NGĀ AO E RUA - TWO WORLDS Directed by Ursula Grace Williams

To anyone who has followed local music closely for the past decade, Marlon Williams is a man who needs no introduction. He's the guy with the golden tenor, the lofty, gawky, camera-ready charm, the ineffable charisma, and the country-leaning music matched to distinctive songwriting. But when it comes to this feature-length documentary - a film that merges career-so-far survey, on-tour hangout and recording of his terrific new te reo Māori album Te Whare Tiwekaweka - the need for no introduction becomes a crutch for not enough explanation.

Debut feature director Ursula Grace Williams (no relation) certainly covered a lot of ground in her four-year period of filming. The doco zigzags from her subject's childhood bedroom in Lyttelton to dressing rooms in London, to clubs and theatres in Los Angeles and Melbourne, to a visit accompanied by his mostly silent father David to his Ngāi Tai marae near Ōpōtiki, to a hall near Haast as the unexplained but scenic venue for the new album's recording.