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Clip description
Harvie, travelling on a tram, learns that the steel plate in his head is magnetic. Having suffered much bad luck and now regarded as a 'weirdo’ by onlookers, he is ready to end it all. But the deep voice of Horace (voiced by Kamahl), a statue, resounds with 'Carpe diem’ and 'Seize the day, Harvie’, and Harvie does, by dancing nude to stirring music and joining a nudist colony.
Curator’s notes
Dogged by misfortune, Harvie has good reason to give up living, yet finds inspiration in the voice of philosopher Horace (actually, the deep, liquid voice of singer Kamahl). I especially liked this sequence, as I take it to be an affectionate tribute by director Adam Elliot to Geoffrey Rush and his Oscar-winning perfomance in Shine (1996).
The uplifting classical music (in this clip, 'Dies Irae’ from Guiseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, 1874) and effervescent male nudity of key scenes in Shine (1996) and Harvie Krumpet have much in common. Geoffrey Rush is, of course, also the narrator of Harvie Krumpet.
