The Tragic Life of Hank Williams..."I Saw The Light"

I Saw The Light (2015)

Rated R

Starring Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen, Cherry Jones

Written and Directed by Marc Abraham

The Story:

Hank Williams (Hiddleston) goes from a local act to the Grand Ole Opry in his brief 6 year career. Starting under the guidance of his mother (Jones), he begins his national ascent after marrying Aubrey (Olsen) until he is one of the most prolific singers and songwriters in the nation. And then just like that, a series of destructive behaviors took him from us at the too young age of 29.

This is his story...

In some movies, you can say that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (thank you Aristotle) where all of the acting, writing, directing, etc. add up to a great cinematic experience.

This isn't that movie.

Nope.

This movie is all about Tom Hiddleston becoming Hank Williams.

Gone is his British accent, buried beneath a southern drawl.

And, unlike most biopics of this nature, Hank Williams does not sing.

It's all Hiddleston, all the time.

And he is amazing. Both as a singer and an actor.

When I was growing up, it was country music that permeated the household until I realized I could change the channels and discovered rock and roll. :)

But this movie, it took me back to a ton of songs that I heard growing up and probably hadn't heard in 30 or 40 years.

Unless of course, they had been remade by rock and roll artists.

Which many had.

Hank Williams made so many hit records in his brief lifetime, he wound up in just about every music hall of fame that there is.

Deservedly so.

But back to the movie...

;)

The problem with the film, and there are several, the movie only implies a lot of what was happening to Hank Williams in his life.

Is he a bad/abusive husband to Aubrey?

Is Aubrey a bad wife to Hank?

Much of this is left ambiguous, at best, perhaps to avoid tarnishing the Williams family legacy.

Hard to say.

You probably don't get the kind of cooperation you need from the family and friends and establishments for making a biopic if you say we're going to show everything, warts and all.

So much of the dramatic flare in the movie is kind of missing any oomph.

Williams isn't a monster that you want to hate, but have to love whenever he starts singing.

He's just a guy who loves to sing, and also really likes to drink.

However, whenever the movie puts us behind the microphone, it becomes magic as Hiddleston belts out a variety of Williams' hits throughout his career. Whether with a bit of rock, or straight gospel, whenever he hits the stage, it's magical.

He and Olsen elevate their parts above the movie and give you performances worth watching.

The rest of the movie bounces between the what you're watching, and apparently some pseudo-documentary filming where it asks important people in Williams' career about the man.

It's odd, and rather unnecessary.

The movie ends with tragedy of course, but the beautiful tribute of the title song is enough to make you a little misty-eyed.

Imagine how music could have been changed if Hank had survived even another 10 years?

Come for Hiddleston and the music of Hank Williams, you won't be disappointed.


Final Grade: B