The musical antidote to Trump-era fatigue: George Freeman reviews 'Song Sung Blue'
'Song Sung Blue': Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as Mike and Claire Sardina | Image by: THA / Alamy
3 min read
This real life tale of a Neil Diamond tribute act is the perfect homage to the United States we knew and loved
At the end of a year in which the American dream of a republic embodying the best of our shared humanity seemingly died with Donald Trump’s return to power, Song Sung Blue is the perfect homage to the United States we knew and loved.
This uplifting movie is a touching ballad to small-town America where anything and everything is possible. Never thought you were a Neil Diamond fan? You will be after watching Song Sung Blue.
Written, produced and directed by Craig Brewer, and based on the 2008 documentary of the same name by Greg Kohs, this heady musical love story details the journey of a Neil Diamond tribute act, Lightning & Thunder, from small-town wannabes to acclaimed folk-rock duo.
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson’s endearing portrayal of real-life Milwaukee couple Mike and Claire Sardina will have you laughing, crying and singing along to Cracklin’ Rosie, Forever in Blue Jeans and Sweet Caroline as the anthems of hope we all need.
Pitch perfect cameos lend humanity to this bittersweet trailer park tale
Supporting the lead performances are actors Michael Imperioli and Mustafa Shakir (playing Buddy Holly and James Brown impersonators) with Ella Anderson (as Hudson’s daughter, Rachel) and Fisher Stevens and Jim Belushi as Lighting & Thunder’s co-managers – their pitch-perfect cameos lending humanity to this bittersweet trailer park tale.
Authentic emotional intensity flirts with, but never crosses the line into, sentimentality (avoiding the example of Timothée Chalamet’s fawning fanboy impersonation of Bob Dylan in the recent film, A Complete Unknown, as I reviewed last year).
From the opening scene in which Jackman and Hudson’s characters bond backstage over a shared costume crisis in a makeshift dressing room at a county fair, through to their love story triumph as “the Neil Diamond experience”, and then their real life personal tragedies, we are treated to a wonderful back catalogue of Neil Diamond classics. As Cherry Cherry and I’m A Believer embody the folk spirit of the American dream, so their renditions of I’ve Been This Way Before and Song Sung Blue capture the inescapable pain of the emotional entanglements, broken dreams, hurt and forgiveness that touch us all.
Musically, Song Sung Blue draws on the formative influences that shaped Diamond’s sound – from Pete Seeger’s folk-county influence on Solitary Man to the gospel evangelism of Holly Holy.
But it is the authenticity of Jackman and Hudson’s soulful musical performance that provides the film with its ultimate charm.
Stepping out into the cold of a London winter, this film provides an alternative soundtrack to the hard rain of Trump’s cultural nihilism, but without a shred of polemic indulgence. Transporting us to another time and place, this story of love, loss, hope and humanity reminds us of what really matters.
Feeling blue? This is a feel-good film for our times. Don’t miss it.
George Freeman is Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk
Song Sung Blue
Written & directed by: Craig Brewer
Venue: General cinema release
