Daffodils: The Other Hamilton Musical

​The musical ‘Hamilton’ – full title, “Hamilton: An American Musical” – covers the life of one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, and his involvement in the American Revolution. While this musical has become world famous over the last few years, there exists another story set to music about a totally different Hamilton, half a world away. Our Hamilton. Kirikiriroa.

​After watching ‘When the Cows Come Home’ last week, I was reminded of another Hamilton related music film that I hadn’t yet managed to see, 2019s ‘Daffodils’. Luckily, it turns out it is also currently freely available in New Zealand, on Māori+.
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Set in Hamilton, the movie is a love story of sorts that features a mix of mostly classic kiwi songs from different eras, re-imagined and sung by the characters in the film. Adding to the local connection, former Hamiltonian Kimbra plays Maisey, the daughter of the two primary characters.

Throughout the movie we also see nods to classic Hamilton locations, albeit appearing to be from an alternative universe. In the first couple of minutes we see Maisey’s father Eric (George Mason), in 1966, driving a 1963 Ford Zephyr away from the Riverina – a pub that once stood on the corner of Grey St and Clyde St, where I personally saw many bands play back in the early ‘90s. The Riverina of the movie world has a superficial similarity to the curves of the real thing, but isn’t nearly as grand. He drives off to the tune of Bliss by Th’ Dudes’, a song that matches the sentiment of some of the boozy nights I remember there. Travelling from there across the river, he drives under an arch featuring a large sign for “Hamilton Domain, Lake Rotoroa”. This arch is only barely reminiscent of the Swarbrick Memorial gates that would have been driven through to enter the domain at this time, but it does work to set the scene. It is here Eric meets Maisey’s mother, Rose (Rose McIver), by the lake’s still seasonally blooming daffodils. The lake, though, appears here to be more of a pond than the more expansive Lake Rotoroa. And then there is the movie attended at the Embassy Theatre, which clearly isn’t situated on the main thoroughfare of Victoria St. Despite all this, I have to say it is fantastic to see a movie that is set in Hamilton… these are merely the troubles of watching a movie as a local who has spent far too long in the same city. We have a further scene soon after in a hall representing the Starlight Ballroom, formerly of Anglesea Street, but as this one is from well before my time, it doesn’t pull me out of the movie world in the same as the other locations.

We have plenty of re-imaginings of classic New Zealand songs within the film. While being driven from the lake, Rose sings a rendition of Bic Runga’s Drive, not as far from the original as many of the other songs in the film. ‘She’s a Mod’ follows up – this is actually a song by British band The Senators, which featured drummer John Bonham, later of Led Zeppelin, but it was certainly made most famous here through the cover by Ray Columbus and the Invaders. We also get fun versions of Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! by The Mint Chicks, and Anchor Me by The Muttonbirds. However, I don’t feel all the songs work as well. The Swingers Counting the Beat, for example, doesn’t do it for me at all. Maybe it is a song that I have been too close to in the past to hear in this modified way. Further, the song plays with Eric, at the start of a trip to Britain, thinking about Rose who is left behind in New Zealand, and the focus is heavily on the “thinking about you” lyric – sometimes the links between the songs and the scenes all just seem a bit too obvious. Chris Knox’s Not Given Lightly playing through the engagement and wedding scenes I view similarly. Tally Ho! by The Clean, There is No Depression in New Zealand by Blam! Blam! Blam!, I’ll Say Goodbye, Even though I’m Blue by Dance Exponents and Jesus I was Evil by Darcy Clay are also songs that vary in my appreciation of them, with the latter, in particular, just downright annoying. Nevertheless, the best covers in my opinion are always those where songs are reimagined, rather than faithful re-enactments of the original, and I commend the filmmakers for not taking the easy road on these. Maybe because of the familiarity of the originals, they will just need a few more listens, but that isn't a luxury I have as a viewer when they are embedded within a movie. And despite the feeling of being a little too obvious, they do serve their purpose in the film. None of the songs in the film have any real Hamiton connection, unfortunately, but I can’t use that as a criticism. Go find Greg Pages’ film The Locals if you want some good Hamilton music content (The Datsuns, Rumpus Room, Inspector Moog and Mobile Stud Unit).

What about the film itself? Well, as mentioned, it is a love story, inspired by real events. The story fills in the bits between the songs, but it is the music that dominates. As such the story is fairly simple, and overall it is difficult to feel like much actually happens. I can't help but feel that something more significant needed to happen. For me, it is certainly the reimagining of the songs and the nods to Hamilton that I will remember it for, rather than the story. 

Ian Duggan