I Saw the Light

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen, Bradley Whitford, Cherry Jones, Maddie Hasson, David Krumholtz, Wrenn Schmidt, Josh Pais
Directed by: Marc Abraham
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Music
2016

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Country singer Hank Williams (Tom Hiddleston) creates iconic music while battling health and substance abuse issues.

Review:

Tim: I was eagerly anticipating I Saw the Light. I love quite a few of Hank Williams' songs and Tom Hiddleston seemed like the perfect person to bring his story to the screen. I'm so glad we got this film, because besides dying young, I knew next to nothing about Williams' life. This movie was educational in addition to being entertaining. However, the movie isn't able to shake the feeling that we've seen this all before.

One of the inherent flaws musical biopics need to combat is that when you've seen many of them, they all start to blur together. Here, we see Hank Williams as a genius songwriter, writing iconic, unforgettable songs. And his brilliance leads to fame, which leads to womanizing, substance abuse, and health issues. I understand that's what Williams experienced in his life, but as moviegoers, we've seen this exact story numerous times before. That isn't an insurmountable challenge, though- the movie just needs to show us what's different, what was unique about this musical icon. It never does that. From start to finish, I Saw the Light just feels like every other musical biopic that we've seen. It all blurs together and this movie doesn't do nearly enough to stand out. That's the most damning aspect of this film. That makes the 2 hour, 3 minutes run time feel longer. This movie just wasn't compelling enough.

Now, I'm not suggesting it's all bad. The movie really helps you to understand the life events Williams experienced. I got to know the person more by watching this film. I thought Tom Hiddleston did a very good job. It didn't bother me that he's not American nor from the South. Hiddleston puts his heart and soul into this performance. His singing wasn't bad and he acted well throughout the film. He's definitely worth seeing. Elizabeth Olsen is a very talented actress, although this wasn't her best performance. She doesn't have quite enough to do. Her character unfortunately takes a backseat in the film, she exists on the margins and never makes the kind of impact needed. Olsen's performance is good, but the movie just didn't give her enough opportunities to shine.

Part of the issue with this film is that director Marc Abraham just didn't have enough experience to truly bring this story to the screen. This is only his second directorial effort and the first in 7 years. He tells the story of Williams and he learn about his life. But, we never truly make the emotional connection we need to. We might understand Williams better, but we never inhabit his body, his soul. This is a movie that checked a lot of the musical biopic boxes, but it doesn't bring us into Williams' life nearly enough. We always feel just outside of where we want to be. That translates into a decent, somewhat entertaining viewing experience. Unfortunately, though, it's not especially memorable. There's no emotional tug. This is a big reason why this will always be a lesser musical biopic, an overlooked one.

While I'm glad the life story of Hank Williams was told here, it's hard to feel too excited about I Saw the Light. The willingness to make something special was there, but the execution is lacking. It's a decent film, but Williams deserves better than this.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Walk the Line, Ray, Coal Miner's Daughter