I Saw the Light

2015
R
2h 3m

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

8.4K

YOUR RATING

Tom Hiddleston in I Saw the Light (2015)

The story of the country western singer Hank Williams, who in his brief life created one of the greatest bodies of work in American music. The film chronicles his meteoric rise to fame and its ultimately tragic effect on his health and personal life.

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Biography Drama Music Romance

The story of the country-western singer Hank Williams, who in his brief life created one of the greatest bodies of work in American music. The film chronicles his rise to fame and its tragic... Read allThe story of the country-western singer Hank Williams, who in his brief life created one of the greatest bodies of work in American music. The film chronicles his rise to fame and its tragic effect on his health and personal life.The story of the country-western singer Hank Williams, who in his brief life created one of the greatest bodies of work in American music. The film chronicles his rise to fame and its tragic effect on his health and personal life.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

8.4K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos74

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Storyline

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Trivia
Tom Hiddleston performed all his own vocals. During the concert sequences he sings to his own pre-recorded tracks, but on the numbers "I Saw the Light" and "Your Cheatin' Heart" he sings live on camera.

Goofs
During the Universal newsreel segment, the copyright is MCMXL, which is 1940. It should be MCML, 1950.

Quotes
Hank Williams: Everyone has a little darkness in them. They may not like it. They don't know about it, but it's there. And I'm talking about things like anger, misery, sorrow, shame. And they hear it. I show it to them. And they don't have to take it home.

Connections
Featured in The Graham Norton Show: Tom Hiddleston/Samuel L. Jackson/John Malkovich/Sara Pascoe/Chvrches (2016)

Soundtracks
The Wedding
Written by Aaron Zigman

User reviews84

Review

Featured review

Hiddleston does Hank admirably--the movie no so much.

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" or "Your Cheatin' Heart" might have been better titles for the Hank Williams biopic, "I Saw the Light." The story written and directed by Marc Abraham has too much emphasis on his lonely, cheating persona that led to divorce and broken hearts along the arc of this film's 1944 to 1953, when he died of too much drugs and alcohol. After seeing Amy, about Amy Winehouse, I'm waiting currently for a softer biography, say of Perry Como.

Anyway, Tom Hiddleston's turn as Williams is hypnotically spot on from tics and Southern drawl to hats and all the charm in between. Hiddleston is a good singer who seems to have captured Williams in a masterful interpretation of a manic depressive genius. That's my major concern with the story: I want more of the music, its creation and its challenges, and much less of the personal and domestic warfare, led by his wife, Audrey (Elizabeth Olsen).

Olsen's Southern accent is impressively accurate without being too twangy although her singing is not up to Huddleston's level of smoothness. Audrey was apparently a strong woman who interjected herself into the studio as well as the home. Although she isn't as memorable as June Carter Cash, she is a force in Williams' life. At a point I was sympathetic to her and her children, who were small players in Williams' life.

I guess if you really want to know Hank Williams, listen to his songs. If you want to see what Loki can do outside of science fiction, see him play Hank Williams in I Saw the Light.