Song Sung Blue

A little context before we get to my reactions, because the story behind this one is almost as remarkable as the film itself. Song Sung Blue is a biographical musical drama written, produced and directed by Craig Brewer, based on the 2008 documentary of the same name by Greg Kohs. Brewer is a filmmaker with real music in his bones. He’s best known for Hustle and Flow and Dolemite Is My Name, and that pedigree matters here, because this is a film that has to make you believe in performers, not just show them to you. Jackman and Hudson play Mike and Claire Sardina, a real Milwaukee couple who performed as the Neil Diamond tribute band Lightning and Thunder, and the film landed in cinemas on Christmas Day through Focus Features. Going in, I knew almost nothing about the Sardinas, and honestly, I think that’s the best way to experience this movie. It meant every turn in their story hit me the way life hits you. Without warning.

From an AA Meeting to a Stage

Let’s talk about that opening, because it surprised me straight away. The film doesn’t begin on a stage. It begins at an AA meeting, with Hugh Jackman as Mike talking to the room about his sobriety, and then, out of nowhere, he starts singing the Neil Diamond song the film is named after. Right there, in that room. It’s such a bold way to open a musical drama, because before you’ve heard a single note on a proper stage, you understand exactly who this man is. He’s a recovering alcoholic, a Vietnam veteran, a guy who has been through the wringer, and singing isn’t a career move for him. It’s survival. It’s the thing keeping him upright. From that scene onwards I was completely on board. Not long after, we meet Kate Hudson’s Claire, about to go on as Patsy Cline, a mum of two grinding through the tribute circuit, and when these two connect, the chemistry is instant. You believe every second of it. Mike walks away from the Buddy Holly gig alongside his friend Mark, insisting on performing as himself, going by the nickname Lightning, and when Claire joins him, Lightning and Thunder is born. On the subject of Mark, Michael Imperioli plays Mark Shurilla, a Buddy Holly impersonator turned guitarist, and he’s quietly excellent. The whole supporting cast is. There’s a warmth to this ensemble that makes the Milwaukee bar and festival circuit feel like a real community rather than a movie backdrop.

Now, the music. The music in this film is absolutely awesome, and I don’t say that lightly. Hugh Jackman singing Neil Diamond is exactly the treat you’d hope it would be, and Kate Hudson is right there with him, note for note. What I love is that the film understands the difference between impersonation and interpretation. Mike isn’t pretending to be Neil Diamond. He’s channelling what those songs mean to ordinary people in ordinary rooms, and the movie treats that with total respect. There’s no smirk here, no looking down on a working-class couple doing tribute shows in Wisconsin. The film loves these two, and by the halfway mark, so did I. The wedding, the pair getting married at one of the very venues they perform in, is exactly the kind of detail you couldn’t invent, and the film is full of moments like that. And these two really can sing this material. Jackman and Hudson even performed songs from the film in a special concert presentation at Radio City Music Hall to promote it, which tells you how confident everyone was in these performances.

Then there’s the Pearl Jam of it all, which might be my favourite piece of trivia in the entire film. In the movie, Lightning and Thunder are approached by Eddie Vedder and end up opening for Pearl Jam, and here’s the thing. That really happened. It’s rooted in Pearl Jam’s show at Milwaukee’s Summerfest in 1995, where during the encore, for Forever in Blue Jeans, Eddie Vedder brought a local Neil Diamond impersonator and his wife onstage. It wasn’t played for laughs. It was a real sign of respect. And Vedder’s connection to this story runs even deeper than one night. When the original documentary was nearly blocked by Diamond’s publishing company, Vedder personally appealed to Diamond, who told his team to stand down once he’d seen it. So in a very real sense, one of the biggest rock stars of the ’90s is the reason this whole story exists on film at all. I love that. It’s the kind of connective thread between artists that reminds you why music matters: the frontman of Pearl Jam looking at a husband-and-wife tribute act from Milwaukee and seeing something worth championing.

When Life Blindsides You

But this is not a feel-good film all the way through, and I want to be honest about how hard the middle section hits. Because just as Lightning and Thunder are building a devoted following, tragedy arrives. Claire is struck by a car while gardening in the front yard of their own home, and she loses her left leg below the knee. Knowing nothing about the real story, that moment was a hell of a shock for me. One second you’re watching a love story about second chances, and the next the film pulls the ground out from under you. And what follows is where Kate Hudson does the best work I’ve seen from her in a very long time. Claire falls into a deep depression, unable to perform, unable to get out of bed, at one point even forgetting to feed her children, while paranoia and hallucinations creep in as she struggles with medication and grief. Hudson’s portrayal of someone going through that kind of anguish is just amazing. It’s raw, it’s uncomfortable, and it never once feels like awards-bait acting. It feels like a real woman drowning, and a real husband trying desperately to hold her, the marriage and the act together. And I’m clearly not alone in thinking so. Hudson’s performance earned her nominations for the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, and the Academy Award for Best Actress. Every bit of that recognition is deserved. And Jackman gets his own gut-punch of a scene too. Mike suffering a heart attack and getting his stepdaughter to hit him with the defibrillator is not something I ever expected to see in this movie. I actually sat back in my chair. This film keeps finding ways to blindside you, because life kept finding ways to blindside these two people.

Where to Go Next

For connective tissue this week, start with Kate Hudson. If her work here reminded you what she’s capable of, go back to Almost Famous, still one of the great music movies ever made, and more than one critic has called this her best work since that film. She’s also currently starring in the Netflix series Running Point, which has been renewed for a second season, if you want more of her in a completely different gear. For Jackman, this slots beautifully alongside The Greatest Showman and Les Misérables as proof that his musical range keeps deepening as he gets older. And if you want the perfect double feature, the original 2008 documentary is out there on streaming. Watching the real Mike and Claire after seeing this film is a lovely, moving experience. And then there’s the story that might be better than any scene in the movie. Neil Diamond himself watched the film, and Jackman revealed on The Graham Norton Show that “He rang me after seeing the movie with his wife, Katie, and he was crying,” telling Jackman how moved he was by Mike and Claire’s story. It gets better. Jackman ended up visiting the couple in Colorado, where Diamond greeted him with the words “You did good, kid.” Jackman stayed the night, and at dinner time Neil Diamond suggested they do karaoke together. Diamond later sent Jackman an autographed guitar. Honestly, if that doesn’t warm your heart, I don’t know what will.

I won’t walk you through how the film closes, because it’s much better discovered on screen. I’ll just say the ending is bittersweet in a way that reflects real life, since the real Mike Sardina passed away in 2006 at 55, and knowing that gives the final act a weight that snuck up on me and properly got me. Bring tissues. You’ll need them, and you’ll be glad you did.