I Saw The Light

Musical biopics are a tricky one to catch a hold of. For one, a lot of it comes down to just how popular that musician is and whether or not their body of work is still in the popular consciousness. It has to try and bridge the gap between the musician's popularity and its current state, which the film will inevitably bolster.

Let's start by saying that we freely admit to having no understanding of Hank Williams or his work. We're aware of him, sure, but we don't truly understand it in any real way. Coming into I Saw The Light blind, we're greeted with Tom Hiddleston and a hackneyed country twang and Elizabeth Olsen, likewise, with a horribly forced accent that calls to mind Jessica Simpson in The Dukes of Hazard remake. The story goes through the motions of Williams' career, beginning as a radio star before he pushed himself on to the Grand Ole Opry, his battles with alcoholism and his regular infidelity with his wife.

As musical biopics go, this is all standard fare. That, sadly, is all there is to I Saw The Light - standard, ho-hum fare. We see Hiddleston giving a surprisingly reined-in performance and while he may look like Hank Williams, it's very clear that Hiddleston is severely playing against his usual instincts. We know him from Loki, from his time on The Night Manager, from his theatre work - all hugely expressive and emotive. Here, he's suppressing these talents in favour of a muted portrayal that, in a way, comes off as him being bored by the character.Elizabeth Olsen, meanwhile, doesn't really have much to do beyond nagging Hiddleston's character at semi-regular intervals and trying to advance her own singing career here and there. The wonderful Cherry Jones, meanwhile, dips in and out of the film as does the equally wonderful Bradley Whitford.

The film's punctuated by performances of Hank Williams songs played in full by Hiddleston himself. Much to his credit, it looks as though he's singing and playing himself and it's clear that director Marc Abraham wants the world to hear Williams' music - or, at the very least, let everyone know that he got the rights to all his songs. Either way, the first couple of times these performances appear are interesting, but they so clearly break up the film and its pacing that it's annoying. The film pauses to allow these songs to breathe, when the film moves at a snail's pace already.

Abraham's second film since Flash Of Genius, I Saw The Light works as a reminder that without drama or a connection to the audience, musical biopics will always fall flat. There has to be something that the audience can latch on to, but there's nothing here for anyone outside of hardcore fans of country and western music.