"Song Sung Blue" is easily mistaken for a musical biopic about Neil Diamond. It's actually a musical biopic about a Neil Diamond impersonator, or "interpreter," named Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman). Based on the documentary of the same name by Greg Kohs, "Song Sung Blue" follows frustrated musician Mike as he falls in love with a Patsy Kline impersonator named Claire (Kate Hudson), and forms the fabulous performing duo of "Lightning and Thunder" with her. Both have children from prior marriages, including Claire's hostile teen daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson) and son Dayna (Hudson Hensley), and Mike's daughter Angelina (King Princess). Despite finding great fulfillment in performing, Mike and Claire's lives see dramatic ups and downs over the years, and their love is tested in many ways.
Directed and written by Craig Brewer, the movie is utterly charming from the opening frames. I love biopics about people who are more adjacent to fame rather than very famous, so we don't have to worry so much about the audience's existing relationship with a celebrity. The Sardinas are a fairly ordinary couple who live ordinary lives and have the problems that ordinary people have. However, since they're impersonators, we still get the benefit of hearing Jackman and Hudson perform lots of catchy Neil Diamond songs. You can tell how much the filmmakers genuinely love Thunder and Lightning, because they always look fabulous onscreen, in spite of the kitschy stage outfits and goofy played up personas. The performances are very good, with Jackman and Hudson selling the love story, and keeping the Sardinas very human as they face major challenges together.
I'm not a Neil Diamond fan and I admit that "Sweet Caroline" is one of only three Diamond songs that I know. However, I had a very good time with this film. I think the actual fans would like it too, because the Sardinas love Neil Diamond as much as anybody. Mike is initially reluctant to assume the role because he's worried that it might be disrespectful, and when he does he displays a very protective attitude towards Diamond's music throughout. After listening to the songs for two hours, I still don't think the music is really to my taste, but I enjoyed watching Jackman and Hudson as the Sardinas so much, it didn't matter.
On to "Rental Family," which is a dramedy about the Western and Japanese cultural divide, from director HIKARI, but in a more interesting and nuanced way than I expected. Brendan Fraser plays an actor named Phillip Vanderploeg, who has lived in Japan for several years since starring in a popular toothpaste commercial. He's adapted to life in Japan very well, but his career has stalled. Unexpectedly, he gets a gig with "Rental Family," a service owned by a man named Shinji (Takehiro Hira), who hires out actor stand-ins for personal and social situations. Phillip is called on to play a groom for a sham wedding, a mourner for a fake funeral, and a reporter to conduct a fake interview with a forgotten filmmaker, Kikuo (Akira Emoto). However, his most challenging assignment is to play the father of a little girl named Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman), who isn't supposed to know he's just an actor.
Companies like Rental Family are real, having originated in Japan in the 90s. As a very Japanese phenomenon with very particular cultural nuances, it's a great angle to illustrate how Philip still thinks like an American, and hasn't quite figured out how to fit in Japanese society. Casting Brendan Fraser for this was a wonderful choice, since he's so physically out of place wherever he goes in Japan, and dwarfs all of his co-stars, especially little Shannon Mahina Gorman. The concept of hiring people to play loved ones has great comedic and dramatic potential, but "Rental Family" chooses to be very gentle, heartwarming, and sincere. Regarding less savory aspects of the business, there's only a brief subplot involving one of Philip's co-workers, Aiko (Mari Yamamoto), who specializes in playing fake girlfriends to deliver apologies to wives who've been cheated on. As a result, there's a very old-fashioned feel to "Rental Family," and the comedy is extremely nice in a way that's becoming very rare.
"Rental Family" reminds me a lot of "The Farewell" in the way that it deals with Western and Eastern approaches to personal difficulties, and love is shown in very different ways that seem to be contradictory. This is a very sanitized and idealized depiction of the rental family concept, but I admire the impulse to make a movie like this, more than I like the movie itself. "Rental Family" is a pleasant watch that I'd happily recommend to those who might need a comforting feel-good movie, but the resolutions are all a little too pat and tidy for me. People's emotions are treated very carefully, but the more morally troubling aspects of the rental scheme are largely sidestepped or dealt with superficially. Everything may look fine, but everyone in this movie still needs a ton of therapy.
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