Anonymous Club review – bruisingly candid portrait of singer Courtney Barnett

Intimate and insightful on the highs and lows of life in the music industry, this portrait of the Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett feels particularly timely. Using footage captured on and off stage, and a bruisingly candid audio diary recorded at the request of director Danny Cohen, the film works both as a document for existing fans and a valuable contribution to an ongoing conversation about the mental health impacts of life on the road.

Barnett works through creative crises, wrangles doubts and anguish, and the wrung-out exhaustion of giving everything to an audience of hungry strangers night after night. While the film is not particularly groundbreaking in its approach to the music documentary, it’s unusually candid and open in what it reveals about the cost of the creative process.