Blaze                     4 stars

Blaze is a sad biopic about Texas singer songwriter Blaze Foley, a promising but tortured talent in folk/country music in the seventies and eighties. This film, written and directed by Ethan Hawke explores the music and life of this little-known musician through three different periods told in nonlinear fashion. We see his early life with Jewish girlfriend/wife Sybil (Alia Shawkat), his later days performing in local bars and diners shortly before his untimely death and a later radio interview where his songwriter friends, Townes and Zee talk about the almost legend. I had never heard of Blaze before who is compared to Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. I am not really a fan of this type of country music, but the songs sung by star Ben Dickey, himself a rock/country artist are done well and are mesmerizing. The story of a talented musician who shows signs of greatness but whose life is destroyed by his own ego, addiction to drinking and a short temper are all too familiar in the long list of musician biopics we have seen. The largest part of the story is about his relationship with Sybil who does everything in her power to support Blaze and their marriage but is eventually doomed to failure. The tall and large Ben Dickey who is a friend of Ethan Hawke, does a nice job as Blaze making him appear like a poet/philosopher about life. This film seems to be his only acting credit. I recommend the movie to anyone who enjoys folk and country music and would like to learn about this near legend. Fans of Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Development) would enjoy the movie as well.