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I SAW THE LIGHT Send This Review to a Friend
Starring Tom Hiddleston as songwriter-singer Hank Williams, the biopic “I Saw the Light” does well in the music department but otherwise is the familiar slog of marital problems, booze and a difficult personality. That said, one still has sympathy for Williams, who died of a heart attack at the age of 29 in 1953, and Hiddleston does a good job portraying him as well as singing Williams’ country music classics.
Elizabeth Olson is strong in her portrayal of Audrey, Williams’ first wife, who wanted a career of her own, and Cherry Jones, excellent as usual, conveys a believable characterization of Lillie, Williams’ controlling mother.
Writer-director Marc Abraham has based the film on the book “Hank Williams: The Biography” by Colin Escott with George Merritt and William MacEwen. Abraham tries to keep the saga lively, and the settings are vivid as we follow Williams from his Alabama roots through his longing to perform with the Grand Ole Opry and his self-destructive behavior, including his women troubles. We’ve seen the pattern before in other movie bios. But the film lights up whenever Hiddleston sings the numbers that brought Williams fame, songs that still have resonance.
He was extraordinary prolific, writing a vast number of songs in the few years he that he lived. He struck a nerve with audiences, as exemplified here when Hiddleston sings two of Williams’ most famous numbers, “Cold, Cold heart” and “Hey Good Lookin’.”
Otherwise “I Saw the Light” can be heavy going despite the good performances by the stars and the other cast members who flesh out the story encompassing the star’s career and personal life. A Sony Pictures Classics release. Reviewed March 25, 2016.
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