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BLAZE (2018)
Director: Ethan Hawke Cast: Ben Dickey, Alia Shawkat, Charlie Sexton, Josh Hamilton, Alynda Lee Segarra, Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, Richard Linklater, Kris Kristofferson, Ethan Hawke MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 2:07 Release Date: 8/17/18 (limited); 8/28/18 (wider) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 27, 2018 The name Blaze Foley might only be known to devotees of country music. He didn't last long in this thing called life, dying at the age of 39 after being shot by the son of a friend. The singer/songwriter toured some major cities but called Austin, Texas, his home. His songs have been performed by the likes of Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard—names that even people who aren't fans of the music will know. His own success, though, eluded him for his short life, which has been dramatized by co-writer/director Ethan Hawke, an Austin native who came of age around the time that Foley and his music would have been known, at least to some degree, by locals. The film is called Blaze, and it creates a sense both of the legend of Foley and of that legend being deconstructed. The man wasn't famous enough to have a well-known and widespread legend about him form, in the way that so many artists' lives take on a sense of romantic tragedy or tragic romanticism. Hawke and co-screenwriter Sybil Rosen (whose Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley, a memoir of her life with the musician, is the foundation for the screenplay) show that there was plenty of romance and tragedy to Foley's life, but none of it was particularly the stuff of typical legend. It's the simple story of a musician who has big plans, starts down the path to achieving them, and loses a lot along the way because he simply isn't cut out for such success. We expect and somewhat get the expected scenes of the man in his regular life, falling in and losing love, figuring out the details of this or that contract, and playing concerts. There's something depressing, though, about all of these scenes. For every big show in some big city, there's another performance in a small bar, which is cut short because Blaze (played by Ben Dickey in a noteworthy debut performance) gets drunk. When he gets drunk, he becomes angry, bitter, resentful, and occasionally violent. A couple of shows end or almost end because Blaze can't stop himself from going down into the crowd to start a fight with a heckler. His final performance, one of the film's two framing devices, is at a local dive bar, where the performance is being recorded for a planned album. Some guy starts talking loudly on the bar's payphone, and Blaze begins insulting the stranger through the microphone. As one might imagine, the scene does not end well. We hear Blaze's life through his "Chatty Cathy" monologues in between songs, and we also hear a slightly different version of it from his friend and fellow musician Townes Van Zandt (Charlie Sexton), who's being interview by a radio station shortly after Blaze's death (Hawke plays the mostly unseen DJ). The stories line up in certain ways, although both versions are incomplete: Blaze is accustomed to rambling and waxing philosophical, and Townes talks about events that he didn't see, in ways that seem as much about himself—how special he is to have had an unknown friend like Blaze—as the subject of his tales. The actual story isn't nearly as tragic as Blaze's musings might imply, and it isn't as romantic as Townes puts forward. In between lie the film's flashbacks, which show Blaze falling for Sybil (Alia Shawkat), an aspiring actress and his long-time muse, and living a quiet, undemanding life with her in a cabin in the woods. Later, the two marry and move to Austin in the hopes that Blaze will be noticed. It happens with a little help from his pal Zee (Josh Hamilton), who shows him around the city. Things also, naturally, become more difficult. The marriage is strained because of touring and Blaze's drinking. He becomes unreliable and is booted out of a few venues. He loses a marriage—but never his muse—and keeps a group of friends close. They talk. They play songs for each other. They drink and get into trouble with the only record label that would give Blaze a chance. Events become blurry and kind of run together, not only because of the competing narrators of Blaze's life, but also because we keep waiting for the usual structure of such a story to emerge. That such a structure never does come into play tells us most of what we need to know about this man. For every success, there are two or three obstacles, almost all of them created by his reliance on alcohol and his attitude. The man is neither lionized nor condemned here. Instead, the film simply feels like a simple life simply lived, in which the meaning is in a sweet love story and how it fades but doesn't completely disappear, in stories of the past and how it's difficult to tell where reality ends and a joke begins, and in the music, of course. The music matters the most as an expression of the man and some deep hope that he will be more than a star—a bona fide legend. Townes tries to create the legend of his friend (Assuming such a deep friendship with the man is part of that legend), particularly in Blaze's death. It was an act of protection, Townes says, because Blaze couldn't stand to see his friend treated so poorly. The reality, though, is only partially that. It's mostly that Blaze is drunk and wanting another fight that night. It's neither especially tragic, because of how it comes to pass, nor particularly romantic, because of the consequences. Blaze would rather see the man—legend or not—for who he was. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for
language throughout, some sexual content and drug use)
