A Diamond-Sized Cover
Had it been based on a completely original story, Song Sung Blue might sound like a parody of Hollywood’s obsession with musician biopics; after films that recounted the lives of Freddie Mercury, Bob Marley, Elton John, and Bruce Springsteen, the exaggerated next step would be to look at second-rate cover bands who made a career out of impersonating legends. Song Sung Blue is able to avoid the threat of mockery because it's based on the real lives of the performance duo Mike and Claire Sardina, who are portrayed by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. The Sardinas were divorced with grown children at the time they bonded over the music of Neil Diamond and decided to start a cover band that performed under the stage moniker “Lightning and Thunder.”
Song Sung Blue has many of the conventional biopic tropes that have become common in the subgenre, the most notable the suggestion that the duo’s most famous moments emerged after a split-second decision. Even if there’s much material from Song Sung Blue that’s lifted directly from the 2008 documentary of the same name, it’s safe to assume that the real Mike didn’t make an impassioned speech about the nobility of Neil Diamond moments before meeting the woman who’d go on to be his life partner. Song Sung Blue isn’t a sanitized version of what the Sardinas went through. Mike was a veteran of the Vietnam War who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder for his entire life, and Claire was crippled by a car accident that resulted in an amputation, which prevented her from performing for several years.
The case that Song Sung Blue had to make for itself is to create reasons to be invested in the Sardinas when a vast majority of the audience have no idea who they are. A film like A Complete Unknown had the benefit of ending with Bob Dylan’s controversial appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Whether or not the performance scenes in Song Sung Blue are entertaining is beside the point because one’s opinion of “Lightning and Thunder” is dependent on their feelings about Neil Diamond. Rather, the film’s intention is to indicate that the Sardinas both pride and satisfaction within their own work; the degree to which they dedicated their lives to cover songs performed at dubious clubs and restaurants is as empowering as it is lamentable.
Song Sung Blue isn’t Jackman’s best work, but it does mark a union between the warring factions of his non-X-Men career. Jackman’s a gifted actor when given the chance to play wounded, erratic characters who push themselves to take control of their own circumstances. However, Jackman is also a song-and-dance man who’s fashioned himself as this generation’s Gene Kelly, and was able to strong-arm an otherwise mediocre musical in The Greatest Showman into a $450 million hit through his charisma. In Song Sung Blue, he’s an unstable, unfulfilled family man who’d go by the name “Lightning,” and still feel electrifying when given the chance to perform in front of a crowd. Jackman’s greatest talent is his ability to impress the internal friction of unfulfilled potential onto characters who’d otherwise be treated as a joke.
Hudson’s performance is the first time that she’s been comfortable in the role of a matured character who isn’t an aspirational figure. The career she had following her breakthrough role in Almost Famous has mostly consisted of generic romantic comedies alongside the occasional self-aware parody role in Glass Onion. The challenge of Song Sung Blue wasn’t to neglect her charisma, but to give it a slight edge; the most affecting moments of the film occur when Claire’s forced to consider being on the sidelines after her injury.
Even if the performances are sincere, that doesn’t prevent director Craig Brewer from the occasional framing device of a more grounded perspective. The culminating moment of the film is a sequence in which the Sardinas perform for a crowd of enthusiastic fans who see their show as the “next best thing” after the real Diamond’s performance is sold out. It’s handled in a slightly overplayed scene where Mike’s opportunity to meet Diamond is denied by the heart attack that would claim his life. Even with his largest platform ever, Mike never saw himself as anyone’s idol, and didn’t even get the chance to meet his own hero.
Brewer’s defining thesis as a filmmaker is the notion that “success is what you make it.” Hustle & Flow was notable as the rare rap drama where the protagonist is left in prison by the film’s conclusion with his greatest achievement being the inspiration he provided to others; similarly, Dolemite Is My Name offered a complimentary portrayal of the blacksploitation icon Rudy Ray Moore, who didn’t live to see the community of Black artists he helped to cultivate. Song Sung Blue is too mopey to be a standard crowd-pleaser and not prestigious enough to be an awards player, but when judged by Brewer’s edict, it’s successful.