Ethan Hawke's third film as a director from 2018 is an engaging yet familiar biopic of Blaze Foley, a hard drinking, drug taking, polio surviving well regarded singer/songwriter who lived life burning the candles at both ends never garnering any kind of attention but the cult variety. Interspersed w/a radio DJ's (played by Hawke w/his back to the camera) interview w/2 of his Blaze's collaborators (played by Josh Hamilton & Charlie Sexton) as they catalog Blaze's rise (after gaining a following from a trio of oilmen played by Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn & frequent Hawke director Richard Linklater who propose a record contract) & subsequent fall (not much of a fall more a 'wrong place/wrong time' kind of deal). Played w/low key charm by Ben Dickey, who does his own singing, the singer is as engaging warbling a tune as he is a brilliant raconteur. His one fall from shabby grace is his love of conflict (seen in his many spats w/his missus played Alia Shawkat who finally leaves him) fueled by a beer too many which soon starts to grate since its familiar territory & in this day & age anyone w/a passing interest into this kind of material will find reams of lists of notable personalities who never quite made it. Look for Kris Kristofferson as Blaze's father & Wyatt Russell (Kurt's son) as a theater friend of Shawkat's.
