True/False Films

Song Sung Blue

In person: director Greg Kohs.

It's not just the story of Lightning (Neil Diamond impersonator Mike Sardina) and his wife Thunder (chanteuse Claire). It's the triumph and tragedy of the American Dream. Boy meets girl, boy and girl forge career singing "Forever in Blue Jeans" in front of happily soused Midwestern fans, then boy nearly loses girl to a freak accident. But Lightning and Thunder will never die! (though divorce is an option). The raw, unvarnished Springer-esque footage of these dreamers' slog through pain, addiction and depression gradually transmutes cheddar into pure gold. And if you've ever wondered what would happen if "Neil Diamond" opened for Pearl Jam (no, we hadn't either), it is both worse and much, much better than you could imagine. As Neil himself would attest, nothing can crush the spirit of a true entertainer. (RM)