Working Class Boy

Instead, this feels like a feature-length edition of Who Do You Think You Are? as Barnes revisits his childhood homes and recounts episodes in his life when he witnessed domestic violence, extreme poverty and severe alcoholism.

There's a matter-of-fact way that Barnes recounts stories of violence, alcoholism, abandonment and attempted sexual abuse that defined his youth that leave you reeling.

Because this is a movie about a rock star, not a book, we need a performance. Well, every song Barnes does for this film is worth the price of entry.

Never mind all the hits, never mind the brilliance as a singer of soul, blues and ballads, apart from rock; the man has enormous reserves of strength. That's so attractive on screen: he has survived.

...rips the top off the myth of the hard-boozing Aussie rocker to show the pain and trauma underneath.

A raw and uncomfortably honest self-portrait that is often terribly sad and moving...As far as tributes go, this definitely is a worthy one, driven by the values of survival, persistence and hope.

Moving, confronting and yet, a distinct pleasure to watch, the fine Australian-made documentary Working Class Boy examines two disarmingly vivid subjects for the price of one.

Working Class Boy seems like easy work for Joffe, who could hardly do more to allow his chatty and candid subject to speak for himself.