Blaze (2018) review

Affectionate biopic covering the life and career of lesser-known folk singer/songwriter Blaze Foley (Ben Dickey), his (initially) idyllic romance (and brief marriage) to Sybil (Alia Shawkat), his friendship with fellow artist Townes Van Zandt (Charlie Sexton), his hard-livin' ways and his eventual demise at the too-young age of 39 (due to getting in the middle of a domestic dispute).  Hawke, mostly known as an actor, is slowly but steadily building up an impressive number of directorial efforts - must be the influence of Linklater, right? (Rich appears as a scuzzy "oil man") - and he adds healthy dollop of poetry on what, in other hands, might have been your standard "rock star dies too young" narrative: both Foley and Van Zandt are fond of telling stories and philosophizing, and Hawke stealthily goes back-and-forth in time, as the (relatively) older Foley reminisces about how the love of his life got away from him (it was largely his own doing).  As great as Dickey is in the lead, it's Sexton - also a professional musician - who really wowed me: I've been getting into Van Zandt's discography lately (and watching what footage of him is available), and the impression is uncanny ... sadly, he too had his problems that he couldn't out run.