Song Sung Blue Film Review: An Musical Homage Story Receives a Heartwarming Boost from Hollywood Courtesy of Jackman and Hudson
This film presents a startlingly strange, certainly enjoyable true-life story emerging from American showbusiness; a lovable crowdpleaser whose feelgood flavour won’t prepare you for how the plot frequently and brutally turns like an unsafe fairground ride. I actually had myself shutting my eyes with my jaw agape at certain key points, while clutching the chair ahead tightly with my hands.
The Stranger-Than-Fiction Story
The couple Mike and Claire Sardina, superbly portrayed by Jackman and Hudson, were a Milwaukee married couple with kids from prior unions who in the 90s formed a cheesy homage performance to Neil Diamond named Lightning and Thunder; they grew into a cult hit within their state and even performed before Pearl Jam, whose guitarist Eddie Vedder good-naturedly joined them on stage for an encore.
However, life was far from simple for the pair, and this film broods on how tough it is when misfortune's bolt strikes more than once.
Adapting a Real Story
The film is actually based on an existing documentary of the same title created in 2008 from filmmaker Greg Kohs about this stranger-than-fiction world, a movie that relied extensively on the family's personal collection of homemade recordings. It’s fair to say that the documentary focuses more intently on the unrealistic and ridiculous elements in the lives of Mike and Claire.
Yet this is not the approach this film from writer-director Craig Brewer reinvents their story. He, Jackman and Hudson turn the laugh-at into laugh-with. Jackman absolutely crushes it as a Neil Diamond impersonator, vocalizing in a remarkably similar manner, and looking almost like him. He is entirely believable as someone who isn’t supposed to be in the big league but who clearly has the chops (and the pipes) to headline a performance.
Standout Performances
Hudson is also excellent, doing her own singing in the role of Claire, who prior to partnering with Mike in the world of Neil Diamond homage enjoyed a successful career performing as Patsy Cline. The film depicts her belting out Cline numbers, although there is one iconic Cline tune is curiously omitted from this movie.
Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly impersonator named Mark, and Mustafa Shakir is a James Brown act known as Sex Machine. The role of Claire's teenage daughter Rachel is played by Ella Anderson, and King Princess portrays Mike's daughter Angelina of about the same age – and their burgeoning friendship is another underplayed aspect contributing to the movie's charm.
The Core Narrative
Sarcasm and mockery have been meticulously excised from the account of Mike and Claire's dramatically packed life experiences, and in their place Brewer installs those attributes that the couple themselves would have recognized: the fragility and isolation involved in striving for success in the margins of the music industry, or indeed making it anywhere and in any business.
This is a tale of relentless perseverance and its cheerful optimism renders it a calorific Christmas treat.
The film "Song Sung Blue" is out on 25 December in the United States and January 1st in Australia and the UK.
