Song Sung Blue– a Review.

SPOILER ALERT: DON’T READ PAST THE DOTTED LINE BELOW IF YOU HAVEN’T YET SEEN THE FILM, BUT PLAN TO

I’ve always loved Neil Diamond’s sort of ballads, and uptempo pop tunes.   And, a while back when I was in NY I went and saw the musical on Broadway, which is excellent, and included more of Neil’s hits than this 2 hour film does.  Kudos to Kate Hudson (who won a Golden Globe for her performance) and Hugh Jackman for his as Clair and Mike.  And the actors who played their friends and family were excellent too (including Jim Belushi).  This story is one part triumph and one part tragedy, and both those things did characterize this couple’s tribute band life.  And for the record, both of the stars could really sing and did an excellent job of reproducing the joy and fun of Neil’s classic numbers.  As my wife said afterwards, we could have used more of the songs, and maybe a little less of the true to life mellow drama.  For a fact check on the movie see below the dotted line.   There have been some excellent biopics of rock stars of late– the best being Timothy C.’s Bob Dylan, the Bruce Springsteen was not bad either.  But neither of those films have the joy and romance of this one.  Usually January and February are movie desert times— with a bunch of bad horror movies to choose from, so I’m glad this film is still in the theaters.   Go see it while you can.

The claim that “Song Sung Blue” is based on a true story doesn’t only show up in the film’s ad campaign. Craig Brewer’s film begins with a title card that reads “Based on a true love story.” The cutesy wording of that might imply to the more cynical of us that the film will be playing fast and loose with any facts, all in the name of emotional manipulation. After all, audiences have generally become inured to the end-of-year Oscar bait weepie. As if to confirm these suspicions, “Song Sung Blue” contains not one but several emotional left turns that are sharp enough to make the writing staff of “This Is Us” blush.

It just so happens, however, that the majority of these near-unbelievable plot twists and tragedies are indeed drawn from real life. “Song Sung Blue” is based on the lives of Claire Sardina (played by Kate Hudson) and Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman), two live music performers from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who met and fell in love during the late 1980s. As the film depicts, they made a living performing as celebrity impersonators at various venues, only for the couple to hatch the idea of creating a Neil Diamond tribute band (not an impersonation act) entitled Lightning and Thunder, with Mike as Lightning and Clair. as Thunder. After that, a series of triumphs and tragedies struck, and all of them appear in the film with very little embellishment. Here’s how much of “Song Sung Blue” really happened.

“Song Sung Blue” is based on the real-life Claire and Mike by way of Greg Kohs’ 2008 documentary of the same name. Kohs followed the Sardinas for years, so there was a great deal of material for Brewer, Jackman, and Hudson to draw from. As in the film, the real Mike was a Vietnam War veteran, a mechanic, attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and also suffered from coronary issues. Meanwhile, the real Claire, who was a hairdresser before embarking on Lightning and Thunder gigs, was actually struck by an out-of-control car just outside her home on May 10, 1999. This accident ended up causing her to lose her left foot, leading to a long and arduous recovery period during which Claire struggled with depression. One of the film’s most outrageous moments is when another car slams into the Sardina home for a second time. Shockingly, this actually did happen on September 8, 1999 (the same year!), albeit while Mike and Claire were inside.

Brewer takes another small creative liberty with the tragedy that befell Mike, too. As in the film, the real Mike Sardina suffered a fall and hit his head, an injury which led to internal bleeding that doctors could not quell. After sliding into a coma, Mike passed away several days after his fall on July 27, 2006. In the film, this fatal fall occurs immediately before Lightning and Thunder’s biggest gig yet, which is, of course, an exaggerated dramatic choice. A bit of heightened drama that actually happened, however, is the scene earlier in the film when Lightning and Thunder open for Pearl Jam and are joined onstage by Eddie Vedder (John Beckwith). This performance of Diamond’s “Forever in Blue Jeans” really occurred in July of 1995.