Harmonizin': Song Sung Blue

So, the best narrative film at the Wisconsin Film Festival this year was, for me, Jeff Nichols' Shotgun Stories, which is screening at Ebertfest this week. If I'm still doing what I'm doing now a month from now, I'll probably try to find something to say about besides, "It's great!"



The best documentary, I think, was Greg Kohs' Song Sung Blue, a film about Lightning & Thunder, a Milwaukee singing duo. He (Lightning) did Neil Diamond. She (Thunder) did Patsy Cline. I wasn't living in this part of the country during their heyday, so I didn't know much about them prior to seeing it.



The film, shot over a number of years, follows them through the ups and downs of their career. It's utterly compelling and heartbreaking and harrowing and uplifting and, y'know, hits you in the way that few films do. It was this year's Life of Reilly.

So if you get a chance to see it, leap at it.



Brief interviews with the director, Greg Kohs, here and here.

The official site is here. Be careful, though, because there might be a few "spoilers" on the site, like in some of the audio interviews. ("Spoilers" in quotes because it's odd to talk about those in relation to a documentary.)

The closing credits song, performed by Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers, can be played at the site here, though you should maybe wait til you see the film til you hear it. Maybe, maybe not.

Okay, definitely a small spoiler on this page, but it's worth it for the performance that plays while you're on the page.

Anyways, this is really, really something. So keep an eye out for it.

Promotional clips for the film: