Review by Brad Balfour
Film: “Song Sung Blue”
Director: Craig Brewer
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Michael Imperioli, Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi, Ella Anderson, King Princess, Mustafa Shakir, Hudson Hilbert Hensley
if you’re going to see director Craig Brewer’s “Song Sung Blue,” you have to be, first and foremost, accepting or at least tolerant of Neil Diamond’s many hit songs. Thirty-eight tunes by Diamond have reached the top 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, including “Sweet Caroline.”
The American singer-songwriter has sold more than 56.5 million records in the US alone, making him one of the best-selling musicians in history. Diamond has written and recorded 10 singles that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts including “Song Sung Blue”, “Longfellow Serenade”, “I’ve Been This Way Before”, “If You Know What I Mean”, “Desirée”, “Cracklin’ Rosie”, “America”, “Yesterday’s Songs”, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” (which he co-wrote with Marilyn Bergman and performed with Barbra Streisand), and “Heartlight (co-written with Carole Bayer Sager and Burt Bacharach).Born January 24, 1941, Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. He was also a Kennedy Center honoree in 2011 and received 2018’s Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Okay, now that you know this, will it make a difference in appreciating this film? Not necessarily. The film is not so much about Diamond. It’s really about love and perseverance — a determination to meet a challenge and rise above the mundane, even if only for a moment. It’s also about the power of music to give meaning to life — not necessarily to be a star, famous or even recognizable. But to make a living making music that was inspiring or compelling, that was something that made for the will to survive.
In the fictional film, “Song Sung Blue,” Diamond’s music was the source of inspiration for Mike Sardina and later, his love Claire [Stengl] Sardina. The music could have been by anyone else but because this film is based on Mike Koh’s documentary released in 2008, it has a veracity that made their story even more compelling. Veteran filmmaker Brewer saw the doc and felt it deserved to be dramatized. He then enlisted stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson to be the couple.
A recovering alcoholic, Mike Sardina has been through a lot as a Vietnam vet coping with PTSD and as a single father who rarely saw his daughter. A veteran musician who had his own bands, he became fed up with playing uninspiring tribute shows to make money. Finally, he settled on Diamond as the artist who inspired him to get back on stage, enough to ultimately create his show “Lightning and Thunder.”
This couple in Milwaukee channeled their love of music into a passion project which became a Neil Diamond tribute show. Sardina’s friend Mark (Michael Imperioli), a Buddy Holly impersonator, eventually joins him. Mike then enlists the bright-faced Claire (Hudson), a single mom of two who’s about to go on stage as Patsy Cline. She’s intrigued by Mike’s passion and their chemistry is instantaneous. The two quickly become a married couple — and a singing duo now named Lightning (Mike) and Thunder (Claire). Though Jackman sometimes comes off as silly and overblown in an obvious wig, Hudson exudes an easy charm and sexiness. The movie is a far perfect family drama, with some cheesy moments that verge on making it a Hallmark production. Nonetheless, they’re overtaken by the affecting personal crises which really touch an audience and make the film a fulfilling story.
Not long after they’re married — just as their bookings are taking off and they are becoming local stars —Claire is horrendously injured by a drunk driver who rams her against their house on their front lawn. From there, the film chronicles one of many turns both tragic and uplifting.
While the film overtly seems like another music biopic, it’s really something else altogether. As more of a memoir of survival, of recovery after tragedy, it’s a tribute [yes] to the power of music, and more so, to the power of love and family. Though the movie’s ending is far from happy, it’s somehow satisfying in that Mike and Claire demonstrate that, despite it all, they find fulfillment in one way or another.
Now Hudson has garnered a Golden Globe nomination for her work in this film — a remarkable and touching performance rich with honesty (in one scene, clad only underwear, she shows her 46 year old body with no fear of wrinkles).
And if you weren’t a Neil Diamond fan or very familiar with his songs, the film offers a chance to listen to his music through a fresh perspective. In seeing how it inspired Mike and Claire, hearing Diamond’s songs again allowed me to reexamine them — especially his lyrics — through this unique context. For that alone, I’m glad I saw this movie.