I Saw the Light (2016)

Review

124min

Genre:      Fact-based, Drama, Music

Director:   Marc Abraham

Cast:        Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen, Cherry Jones…and more

Writers:    Marc Abraham, Colin Escott

-Synopsis-

Tom Hiddleston stars in a musical biopic chronicling the life and times of Country & Western music legend Hank Williams, from his prodigious talent and rise to fame, to the struggles with his personal demons in an ultimately tragic and short but culturally impactful life.

Director Marc Abraham’s adaptation of Colin Escott’s Hank Williams biography is not quite your typical cradle-to-grave biopic, kicking off with Williams having already experienced the early ups & downs of a musical career and with the marriage to his first wife Audrey Sheppard, played by Hiddleston’s ‘Avengers’ alumnus Elizabeth Olsen.

But ‘I Saw the Light’ moves along the same familiar lines of pretty much every music biopic about the southern stars of early American popular music we’ve seen in recent years. All the themes from films about Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, James Brown etc are present here; from the intricacies of southern living and the trappings of fame, to marital strife and infidelity, not to mention substance abuse and inner demons, and with no hint of a fresh perspective to handle the drama.

Tom Hiddleston, a modern middle-class Londoner, had the daunting task of capturing the essence of Alabama’s own Hillbilly legend and one of the first true singer/songwriters, Mr. Hiram King “Hank” Williams. But Hiddleston rises to the challenge spectacularly, delivering a performance as good as any lead in a biopic over the last couple of decades.

From nailing a very specific regional southern accent to his nuanced depiction of a complex psyche in decline, and of course the sheer balls to perform every song himself, Hiddleston immediately erases any notion of “Loki does country” and you’re sold from the start.

Sure he was never going to perfectly re-create the iconic and sincere Hank Williams nasal delivery, with its warm artistic “hiccups” and yodels, but we certainly applaud his courage to try and the end result ain’t too shabby.

‘I Saw the Light’ deals primarily in Williams’s strained relationship with first wife Audrey Sheppard, herself an aspiring singer with limited ability, and with his self-destructive vices which brought that marriage down and persisted to the tragic end, particularly regarding his rampant alcoholism.

But despite solid performances and a fascinating character as the subject matter, director Marc Abraham can’t seem to put together a compelling drama that offers anything beyond a superficial insight into a complex but sincere and brilliant figure.

Unlike Hank Williams himself, ‘I Saw the Light’ is almost completely flat; a monotone drama from start to finish which will quickly become tedious to most, Tom Hiddleston’s performance compensates greatly in terms of captivating the audience, but not enough to make the 2 hour experience compelling.

This is a very rare occasion where we would actually encourage more melodrama in a film, and it may be one of the few examples of an award-contending lead performance in a film that’s generally panned.

 The Bottom Line…

‘I Saw the Light’ is a film of two halves; on the one hand an award-worthy, nuanced and bold performance from Tom Hiddlestone as Williams, but on the other a flat familiar narrative and uninspired execution which fails to captivate or do justice to an artist who helped to define the course of popular music in the 20th century.

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Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Walk the Line (2005)

Oscar-winning biopic about the life an times of country & western legend Johnny Cash, featuring Joaquin Phoenix as the “Man in Black” in this chronicle of the extraordinary career and personal struggles that formed one of the influential artists of the 20th century.

Directed by James Mangold and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon and Ginnifer Goodwin among others.

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