Blaze – Review

A slow crawl of a country music biopic, Blaze is based on a book by Sybil Rosen, who was Blaze Foley’s girlfriend and wife. She wrote a memoir about him, which was in turn adapted into this screenplay and film. Blaze Foley (Dickey) was born Michael Fuller, and formed the stage name based on a combination of musician Red Foley and a stripper named Blaze Starr.

The film covers flashes of Blaze’s life, as well as memories from his close friends Zee (Hamilton) and Townes Van Zandt (Sexton). While writing and performing gospel songs with his family in the 50s and 60s (as The Singing Fuller Family), Blaze knew he always wanted to play music for people. He shifted to his own style of lyrics and music, finding a fit with the country sound.

Blaze lived with a community of musicians until around 1975 when he met his must and girlfriend, Sybil Rosen (Shawkat). Blaze had always been a big drinker, which often got in the way of his successes and ability to maintain basic life needs. Sybil did her best to support her love, even in his down times of massive boozing and being his own life’s wrecking ball.

Blaze is an intimate look at life, death, music, addiction, love, successes and failures. It is an interesting story about a struggling man with great musical ideas and interesting lyrics. The film is not a traditional biopic as it jumps between remembrances and scenes of Foley’s life. While it moves a bit slow, those looking for a good life drama and biopic should be happy with this quality presentation.