The problem wasn't in the performances but in the stinginess of songs. I could literally spot where a 'You Win Again' or 'Lost Highway' should have been shoehorned in between the repetitive domestic scenes between Hiddleston and Olsen.
Lou Diamond Phillips in La Bamba wasn't an exact double in either look or sound for Ritchie Valens either, but the musical undercurrent was constant and you never lost sight of what motivated his artistic passion. Abraham's Williams succumbs to women, back problems, and death with his songs as barely a footnote to the journey.
Lou Diamond Phillips in La Bamba wasn't an exact double in either look or sound for Ritchie Valens either, but the musical undercurrent was constant and you never lost sight of what motivated his artistic passion. Abraham's Williams succumbs to women, back problems, and death with his songs as barely a footnote to the journey.
If and when this gets on Netflix, I'll give it 3 out of 5 stars. I knew the story going in - everybody should - but the arc of the film, indeed the arc of Williams life isn't an arc but a fork. The talent goes up, but the man slides down.I don't know how this could have been done differently in this realistic portrayal of Hank Williams life. Sadly, it was what it was, and also sadly, I wish it were more than the story of this sad, ill man who had so much raw talent.
1
I studied Hank Williams life and his music. I am songwriter in Nashville for the last 3 years. They did NOT capture him at all. The bland lifeless and you can't picture this actor as Hank. He does look sound or move like him. He should been played Hank III who looks and sounds like him. The story was bland lifeless and left out interesting points in his his life Hadocol tour. I really excited to see it. I wanted to like it. Its poorly done. The website for the move has Fred Rose picture captioned 1970.... Fred died in 1954. That sums up this movie.
1
Great singers like Williams were great not because of their story but because of their extraordinary musical talent. As a child in the 50s, I heard Hank Williams music everywhere--and I lived in Chicago, not the South. I didn't know it was country music, I just knew it was great. Though the lyrics were simple, with poetic imagery, it was Hank Williams voice that made them unforgettable, so direct and strong, full of longing, high and tender. I can still hear it in my memory when I hear the title of one of his songs. It is so strange to me that actors who can sing think they should imitate or try to interpret a great singer's voice. The Hank Williams story of alcoholism and death too soon is not what is truly compelling. What would be compelling is the opportunity for a new generation to hear that voice, that great yearning, heartbreaking voice, as the heart of the story so it can understand why Williams was so great.
8
... that great yearning, heartbreaking voice. Yes indeed.
3
When I first heard about this movie I really wanted to see it. HW was one of my dad's favorite singers and over the decades I've come to appreciate and enjoy his songs. I just listened to an NPR interview with the vereran Shakespearean actor Huddleston. He said he wanted to bring his own interpretation to the country music icon and especially Williams' music. After hearing clips from the movie of Huddleston's interpretation of the songs and a Louisiana drawl, well let me just say this isn't Shakepeare (where one's interpretation is appropriate and appreciated) and I'm no longer interested in watching Huddleston's caricature portrayal of the great Hank Williams.
2
I don't quite understand why actors — unless they are truly expert musicians capable of capturing the essence of someone else's voice — think they should do the singing themselves. It might make the performance feel more authentic to the actor, but can have the opposite effect on viewers.
2
When I first heard of the movie I thought I really wanted to watch this biopic of one of my dad's favorite singers, one I've very much come to appreciate and enjoy over the decades. I just listened to an NPR interview with the lead actor Huddleston. I've changed my mind. Huddleston, a Shakespearean veteran, said how he felt compelled to bring his on interpretation to the role, especially the songs. His singing sounds of a amatuer cover with some modern flair attepmts. I can only imagine how the role playing moves along. This isn't Shakespeare and I'm not interested in Huddleston's caricature interpretation.
The reviewer finds both this film and others fall short of capturing Hank Williams and the "William's moment". Yet he makes no mention of "Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave" (1980) which is surely the essential Hank Williams film - not as a definitive bio-pic but rather as a singular distillation of the man and his times condensed into a time frame of a couple of hours on the night he died. An emotional, magnificent small budget film. From one of the strong reviews on IMDb, "the performance by Sneezy Waters as Hank is one of those rare things where the actor transcends the medium and becomes the character he is playing."
3
What a great weekend for music lovers (in New York) at the movies. Biopics about two melancholy musical icons, Hank Williams and Chet Baker, are being released. New Yorkers need to see one on Friday and the other on Saturday and compare, or at least enjoy.
As for "I Saw the Light," one has to wonder why this is such a difficult story to tell. It has all the makings of a classic drama: the moody hero, the pushy wife, the haunting of fame, and the excesses of the artist. I am of the mind this film will be more entertaining than this review reads.
I do like the casting. At the risk of sounding snobbish, I will say that I am pleased with the casting of tall, lanky Brit Tom Hiddleston in the part in lieu of a non-Southern American actor. For some reason, American actors not from the South have a tendency to play their characters too broadly, and make their accents to overbearing. As with "Coal Miner's Daughter," it appears that, while the actor's voice lacks the beauty of that of the person they're playing, there is a certain organic nature that lends authenticity. I've yet to see this done outside of a country music bio, though.
However, I am a bit dismayed at the casting of Elizabeth Olsen as Hank's wife Audrey. Too many of today's young actors seem so callow in these parts of people who were the same age in the 1940s and 50s. People became adults much more quickly in that generation, and it stands out all the more with today's young actors playing those parts.
As for "I Saw the Light," one has to wonder why this is such a difficult story to tell. It has all the makings of a classic drama: the moody hero, the pushy wife, the haunting of fame, and the excesses of the artist. I am of the mind this film will be more entertaining than this review reads.
I do like the casting. At the risk of sounding snobbish, I will say that I am pleased with the casting of tall, lanky Brit Tom Hiddleston in the part in lieu of a non-Southern American actor. For some reason, American actors not from the South have a tendency to play their characters too broadly, and make their accents to overbearing. As with "Coal Miner's Daughter," it appears that, while the actor's voice lacks the beauty of that of the person they're playing, there is a certain organic nature that lends authenticity. I've yet to see this done outside of a country music bio, though.
However, I am a bit dismayed at the casting of Elizabeth Olsen as Hank's wife Audrey. Too many of today's young actors seem so callow in these parts of people who were the same age in the 1940s and 50s. People became adults much more quickly in that generation, and it stands out all the more with today's young actors playing those parts.
6
You underestimate Olsen's abilities. She is a strong actor who conveys a put-upon, strong-willed southern woman of the era quite well.
1
Looks like a great movie, it's too bad A.O. Scott didn't review this.
2
Williams and the American highway were made for each other, and came about at the same time. Looking forward to seeing this movie.
4
Unlike Batman v. Superman, I WILL see this movie.
4
Go see B v S. It is much better than the critics suggest.
1
One of those ideas for a film that should have remained an idea. Rarely can originality be captured. At best a film can achieve an approximation, but going to the source is one's best bet.
6
Hiddleston, such a gifted actor, is simply miscast, and misdirected. He cannot go deep into the darkness of Hank Williams' soul. Instead he is forced to go through the motions of yet another Self-Destructive Star vehicle. In this film, the guitar is a prop, nothing more. It smiles and winks just like HW is portrayed at the Opry.
Despite the valiant efforts of a gift cast, every note here rings false.