Oh, the sweet sound of Brooke Fraser, and in the golden age before she got her tongue pierced and started singing with a pronounced lisp. “Better” stars Temuera Morrison (pre teeth veneers – what’s up with entertainers messing with their mouths?) as Brooke’s troubled dad – like a lower-middle-class Jake the Muss who’s got most of his issues under control, but still has moods.
He comes home from work, heats up a really depressing looking dish of microwaved veggies, but he has no appetite and so goes upstairs for a lie-down. While he’s resting, daughter Brooke lets herself in and gets to work on a makeover of his living room. He wisely doesn’t come downstairs. If he did, she’d probably hand him a paintbrush and make him join in.
Brooke gives the place a good dusting (the place is filthy), paints over the dingy yellowing wallpaper with bright white paint, adds a few stylish throw cushions and a lamp, hangs a photos of a tropical island, arranges a colourful bunch of flowers on the table, and takes off, happy with her three-minute makeover.
There are actual TV shows exactly like this (the Living Channel is full of them). Troubled people get quickie makeovers to put a smile on their face and help brighten up their life. But does the fresh new look make Tem happy? As he sits down to finish his plate of microwaved veggies, he sees the flowers and has a little smile on his face. But really, Brooke goes to all the effort of making over the house, but she leaves him with the old plate of microwaved veggies? How hard would it have been to phone for pizza? Yeah.
The videos works really well with the themes of the song. There’s no attempt to dress it up as a boy-girl relationship song. Yeah, the makeover is a bit silly, but overall there’s sweetness.
Note: this video might not have actually had NZ On Air funding. It’s one of the “yeah nah” ones.
Best bit: Brooke’s careful arrangement of the throw cushions.
Next… a fat wad of Rutherfords.