I SAW THE LIGHT Review

Note: This is a reprint of my review for I Saw the Light, which originally ran on September 13, 2015 after seeing it at the Toronto Film Festival. I am publishing it again today as it hits theaters this weekend.

Hank Williams doesn't seem to have been that great of a guy. He became addicted to the drink, morphine, and other painkillers as well as fathering several children, only one of which he ever married their mother and this all before his untimely death at the age of twenty-nine. While Williams may not have necessarily been the best guy (and possibly one of the worst parents) it is usually these types of people that stand to create the most interesting stories and in Williams case, write the most interesting ones as well. Before becoming popular as a singer Williams was primarily known for being one of country and westerns top songwriters. Williams penned and performed countless tunes for a radio show in his hometown of Montgomery, Alabama before securing a deal with the music publishing firm Acuff-Rose as a professional songwriter. All of that taken into consideration, one wouldn't really come to learn much of this from the Marc Abraham (Flash of Genius) biopic, I Saw the Light. Abraham's film tends to prefer only patching together a few story points in the singer's life rather than truly digging into its subject's life and finding out what really made this man tick. It's admirable that Abraham doesn't take the easy route of opening his film backstage before one of Williams last shows and using it as a framing device for a period of reflection in which the movie's told, but he also doesn't come up with an alternative way to tell us anything insightful about the man, and a movie needs to offer more than a Wikipedia page does.

First Trailer for I SAW THE LIGHT Starring Tom Hiddleston

The Hank Williams biopic directed by Marc Abraham (Flash of Genius) was one of my most anticipated films of this fall, but that was before I saw the film at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and before Sony decided to push it's release to next March. I'm a big fan of films about the music industry and about people who create music, but unfortunately I Saw The Light tends to focus on the personal issues of the late country music singer and songwriter rather than the insight that gave him the ability to craft over thirty-five singles for himself and numerous others for many other artists. The ability to show how the two go hand in hand is the mark of an exceptional music biopic and examples of such can be seen in last year's underrated Get On Up or Walk the Line if you're looking for one that also operates within the country music genre. I Saw The Light plays more like a sequence of scenes that feature pedigreed players acting out scenes from Williams Wikipedia page that never allows the film a sense rhythm and if you're going to make a film about a music superstar the first thing your films needs to have is a little rhythm. All of that said, this first trailer for the film paints a pretty and rather epic picture of the life and times of Hank Williams Sr., but also makes evident the use of his personal demons as highlighted by wife Audrey (Elizabeth Olsen) to drive the narrative rather than the music that the man was really about. You can check out my full review from TIFF here and watch the trailer for the film after the jump. I Saw The Light also stars Bradley Whitford, Caroline Hebert, Charlie Talbert, Cherry Jones, Cory Hart, David Krumholtz, Joe Chrest, Josh Pais, Wrenn Schmidt, Maddie Hasson, Wayne Pére and opens on March 25th, 2016.

TIFF 2015: I SAW THE LIGHT Review

Hank Williams doesn't seem to have been that great of a guy. He became addicted to the drink, morphine and other painkillers as well as fathering several children, only one of which he ever married their mother and this all before his untimely death at the age of twenty-nine. While Williams may not have necessarily been the best guy (and possibly one of the worst parents) it is usually these types of people that stand to create the most interesting stories and in Williams case, write the most interesting ones as well. Before becoming popular as a singer Williams was primarily known for being one of country and westerns top songwriters. Williams penned and performed countless tunes for a radio show in his hometown of Montgomery, Alabama before securing a deal with the music publishing firm Acuff-Rose as a professional songwriter. All of that taken into consideration, you wouldn't really come to learn much of it from the Marc Abraham (Flash of Genius) biopic concerning Williams as it tends to only patch together a few story points in the singers life rather than dig in and find out what really made him tick. It's admirable that Abraham doesn't take the easy route of opening his film backstage before one of Williams last shows and using it as a framing device for a period of reflection in which the movie's told, but he also doesn't come up with an alternative way to tell us anything insightful about the man and a movie needs to offer more than a Wikipedia page does.