Just so we get this straight from the beginning so we’re on the same page, as it were. “Song Sung Blue” is a Hollywood film about a Neil Diamond tribute band. Based on a true story. Husband and wife. Car mechanic and hairdresser. From Milwaukee. Played at the state fair and roadhouse bars.
Can we be serious?
Serious as a heart attack… which does happen to be an important story point.
“Song Sung Blue” is a “roller coaster” of a film. The highs are high, the lows are low, and fortunately, auteur Craig Brewer ends the piece at a place where it’s easy for the audience to disembark in one emotional piece. As one patron expressed as we made our way out of the screening “I thought this was going to be something light. I didn’t expect to cry … and laugh!”
Both reactions are quite acceptable. The performances of leads Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson are so authentic that we have no difficulty believing that Mike and Claire Sardinia, the couple who inspired the film, started out as a hairdresser and an auto mechanic. They’ve got that “vibe.”
It’s the music that transforms them into “Lightning and Thunder” … the stage name they used for their Neil Diamond tribute. When that transformation occurs, the audience is swept up in their energy to the point where the occasional, shy “sing along” could be heard scattered in the audience. For those of a certain few generations, remembering Neil Diamond songs is almost a sub-conscious act. After all, the crowd has been singing “Sweet Caroline” at Boston Red Sox games since 1997!
Essential in any piece about musicians – reference the portrayal of Bob Dylan by Timothée Chalamet in “A Complete Unknown” – is the ability to perform. Singers need to be able to sing, convincingly. They need to play, or at least mimic playing, convincingly. Jackman and Hudson are not only convincing, their characters resonate with a talent mastered over years of public performance. They really do play and sing, both having been showered with awards for their musical performances as part of their acting career. It shows.
One of the more charming puzzle pieces of the film is the role of the supporting cast. When Jim Belushi takes the screen, it’s almost difficult to place the face with the name, yet the character becomes so essential to the “truth is stranger than fiction” narrative that he lights up the screen. The same can be said for Michael Imperioli who plays against his more famous roles in “Goodfellas” and “The Sopranos” to be the long-suffering antagonist who becomes the back-up guitar player for “Lightning and Thunder.” It helps that he, too, is an accomplished musician in his own right.
To fully appreciate the humanity of the story, one needs to experience the film. Triggered by the appearance of a documentary produced in 2008 by Greg Kohs that received some modest festival recognition, the story deserves the telling, and Brewer does just that. Seeing it on a local screen would be first choice, but if time and schedules require that we wait until a streaming service picks up the film and offers it to the living room couch viewing public, then so be it. Don’t be fooled, however, “Song Sung Blue” is worth the time investment.
“Hello, Milwaukee!”
photo credit: IMDB