Will Sloan’s review published on Letterboxd:
Hal Asbhy's biopic of Woody Guthrie - an acclaimed film in its day, but not much seen or talked about anymore. Its most praised element is Haskell Wexler's cinematography, and the praise is merited. What a gorgeous movie. So many impossibly lovely "magic hour" shots. A lot of period pieces feel overpolished, but this movie's Dust Bowl era looks convincingly real, like a place actual people actually lived. I like that this is a movie about poverty that looks beautiful. I'm still recovering from being immersed in the dreary porridge tones of Women Talking, which communicated that This Is A Very Serious Subject So We're Not Here To Have Fun. Times can be serious and bad but also possess beauty. In fact, they often do!
Unlike most biopics, this doesn't feel like a checklist of Greatest Hits and Iconic Moments from the subject's life. It's not big on "plot," and is mostly an accumulation of scenes in which he goes from place to place and over time his politics evolve from "an honest day's work for an honest day's wage" to "workers of the world unite." Also moving as a depiction of someone for whom art, life, and politics were indistinguishable, and who both took his art seriously but also wasn't precious about it. Music flowed through him, thousands of songs came out, and he had the moral code to turn his back on stardom but also to regard his songs as public work to be shared and enjoyed.