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Still Pushing Pineapples

Still Pushing Pineapples

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Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

Kevin Harley

A middle-aged pop performer fantasises about a comeback in this unusually melancholy music documentary. Often dressed as a pineapple, Dene Michael enjoyed hints of fame in much-derided 1980s novelty pop band Black Lace (Agadoo). Forty years on, he struggles to make a living on the party circuit while caring for his ageing mum and hoping for another hit. Director Kim Hopkins (A Bunch of Amateurs) frames the singer's story as a kind of intimate road movie, as Michael travels between rundown venues and takes his mum to Benidorm. He emerges as a caring if unrealistic man, haunted by earlier successes and unable to adapt to his current situation, despite his partner's efforts to help. Hopkins's decision to ignore Michael's 2016 jail sentence for benefit fraud sits oddly, but she finds something touching and relatable in his story. Patient and closely observed, Still Pushing Pineapples unfolds as a flawed but affecting study of a dreamer adrift in a fading working-class culture, told with generous empathy.

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Credits

Cast

rolenameDeneDene MichaelAnneAnne BetteridgeHayleyHayley Louise SpridgensCrissyCrissy Rock

Crew

rolenameDirectorKim Hopkins

Details

Theatrical distributor

Tull Stories

Released on

2025-11-28

Languages

English

Guidance

Some swearing

Formats

Colour

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