Crazy Heart

The pleasure to see Jeff Bridges playing a man ready to start a whole new life, a day a the time, is indescribable. And as if that wasn't enough, love is the inspiring factor the motivating force. I've been a fan of Jeff Bridges since I first saw him in "The Last Picture Show", then "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot", "Fat City" right up to "The Big Lebowski" He's never less than totally there. Truthful and powerful even when he plays characters that are the opposite of truthful, the opposite of powerful that even don't seem to be there. "Crazy Heart" reminds us. He's one of the greatest American actors of his or any other generation. His face when he realizes he lost the little boy will haunt me forever. At the Golden Globes, in his devastating charismatic, humble way he thanked his parents. I thank them too Jeff, you are a wonder.

In his directorial debut, Scott Cooper adapts Thomas Cobb's Crazy Heart, the story of Bad Blake, a washed-up country star with an alcohol addiction. The film stars Jeff Bridges, in the lead role, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jean, a young reporter is taken in by Blake's heartache and pain.

Cooper's direction is of subtle greatness. The film is quiet, slow-paced, but works. It's never meant to be loud or over-the-top, which some may be expecting; it's a beautiful written song about life thrust into a two-hour sympathy riot. Bridges, who will surely receive Oscar attention, is reserved, charismatic, and raw. Bridges' 58-year-old Blake is one of the better performances of the year. There are obvious comparisons to Robert Duvall's performance Tender Mercies, with critics believing a possibly similarity to Mickey Rourke's work in The Wrestler, which is certainly not the case, this is unique in its own way. Bridges doesn't overcook the role which would have been easy, he's effortless and sings quite well.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Oscar snubbed for her works in Sherrybaby and World Trade Center, is nearly average in her work. She's coy with Jean and underplays her, but unlike Bad Blake, her role doesn't call for it. Jean is a bruised, kindhearted, and devoted mother to her four-year old son Buddy (Jack Nation, as cute as can be), but uneven in narrative forming.

Robert Duvall is brief, and nearly ineffectual. As the bar owner Wayne, he offers a humanity for Blake outside of woman, which is needed in the film, but in the end is unmemorable. Also sharing this boat is the talented Colin Farrell, who's both likable and adequate, but upstaged by scenes with Bridges.

The only thing more beautiful than Bridges' performance is the song "The Weary Kind," which is submission for Best Original Song for the Academy Awards. This is one of the best songs written for a film in the last ten years. Delightful lyrics and exquisitely executed, the song one of the rare occasions of the perfect song for a perfect film, given the film's nature.

While Crazy Heart doesn't offer anything insightful to the realm of cinema, it's simple, uncomplicated, and honest, which you can't appreciate. For a first time out, Cooper does an admirable job.

***/****

There's a shot in a scene near the beginning of Scott Cooper's Crazy Heart that's so jarring that it has to have been a choice, but I can't for the life of me unpack what it means. Jeff Bridges plays forgotten country legend Bad Blake, drunk and down on his luck, a one-time great forced to play tiny New Mexico bars for tiny over-the-hill crowds. As he cruises into town in his rusty Suburban and empties out his pee bottle, he realizes that his manager has booked him to play in a bowling alley, where he begins to drink prior to the show. There's a shot of him at the bar that is an exact visual echo of Bridge's most famous character of recent years, the similarly booze-addled Dude from The Big Lebowski, famously bellying up to a bowling alley bar, talking to a cowboy. It's odd and unmistakable, as Bridges' the Dude in the Cohen Bros. first-cult-then-full-blown classic dopey caper movie has become iconic, his sozzled, affronted complaints as firmly lodged in the minds of movie folk as Travis Bickle's spookyisms or the monologue by the guy in Network who got mad and told everybody to go yell out the window.

Where the Dude's drunk and drugged wanderings seemed blessed, though, by a cinematic ray of Private Eye light that kept him safe through to the end of his caper, Bridges' Bad Blake is broken down, on the way out. A member of his backing band that he had mentored, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), has moved on to find incredible success on his own and exists, but is unwilling to do an album of duets that Blake and his lizard-skin booted agent need to pull his career out of the toilet. He meets a young journalist (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who herself has had a rough patch and their bruised romance sees Blake back on some kind of road to life.

Bridges inhabits the role as thoroughly as is seemingly possible - he quite simply is Bad Blake. Much of the music (composed by T-Bone Burnett, who among other things did the music for the Coens' O Brother, Where Art Thou?) Bridges sings himself and he's got a not-half-bad country voice, but it's in the busted-boot gait and whisky-sipping slouch that Bridges carves the character out. The rest of the film is almost as good as he is. Cooper's script has a habit of freely dipping into the well of cliché - the whisky soaked forgotten crooner lost in the shadow of inauthentic "new country", salvation and sobriety at the feet of a sad single mother who doesn't want to be hurt again - but then at the last minute, swerving away into if not original then certainly less clichéd territory. Tommy Sweet, when he makes his entrance into the story, is not half the villain the first half of the film would have you believe, and Gyllenhaal's single mom is something a hair's breadth more interesting than a sucker for punishment, loyal to a fault. The film could have been a disaster, and at times it's half-way there, but there are enough smart choices in the script and good performances from interesting actors that the film ends up (for the most part) overcoming its own flaws.

It does country well, and it's as authentic as a film can be to a genre of music (like punk, or metal, or rap) that is itself so utterly cliché ridden that arguments over whether so-and-so is "real country" are a common fervent pastime for fans and the artists themselves. Bad Blake seems as much of a real, breathing human being as Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings, which is obviously somewhat of a back-handed compliment. Crazy Heart's story is an old one: a busted down, down and out nobody screws up, hits bottom, and becomes somebody again. We've seen it before, but it has enough soul and Bridges' Blake has enough human hitch in his step, that it manages to be moving, if not refreshing. 7/10

Here is the film that the ridiculously talented Jeff Bridges finally won an Oscar for, and deservedly so. His performance is the gleaming highlight of this film in the best way possible. He is playing washed up country singer Bad Blake, trying to overcome alcoholism and a dying career. The story is very touching, and how could you expect anything less than incredible from a character study piloted by Jeff Bridges. The film has a very organized focus on Bridges' character but he is also backed by a fantastic supporting cast. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays an aspiring reporter who interviews Blake, only to fall in love with him shortly after. Her performance is equally touching and feels so real alongside Bridges. Colin Farrell plays Tommy Sweet, an old friendship of Bad Blake's that went sour somewhere along the line. And then of course there is the small yet significant role of Bad Blake's long time old fishing buddy Wayne, played by the masterful Robert Duvall. The limited number of scenes between Bridges and Duvall are some of the best and most sincere of the movie. Crazy Heart is a great film to watch in order to see fantastic actors do what they do best... act.

The character development in Crazy Heart embodies the film's strong suit, which is the wonderful acting ability of the cast. There is not a moment when you don't believe in these characters and you truly feel that they are sincere and real. It is also just so incredibly satisfying to watch legends like Bridges and Duvall act side by side in beautiful and perfectly fitting roles such as these. The story of Bad Blake itself is very interesting, but the characters are where the heart and soul of the film lay. The plot leaves something to be desired, but it doesn't fault the movie as much as it could when you have such great actors filling the roles of such articulated characters. Admittedly, the film drags a bit towards the middle and the climax of the film doesn't hit as hard as I would have liked, but it leads into a cathartic and slightly cheesy ending, which leaves you wanting more, but emotionally satisfying nonetheless.

Now, I am not a fan of country music at all, but in the context of this film I absolutely loved it. It is so beautiful and touching that it would almost be a crime to say you didn't like the music while watching its fitting place in this film. And as if I haven't praised the actors in this film enough, I have to give even more kudos to Bridges and Farrell who took voice lessons to sing their own songs in the film, and holy crap do they sound amazing. You would think Jeff Bridges had been a country singer all his life. If you're not a fan of country music I wouldn't recommend listening to the music before you see the movie. But after you see just how perfect the soundtrack fits the film you will love the music. The music makes this film all the more sincere and is one of the only contexts I will ever enjoy country music.

Crazy Heart isn't perfect, but I'm willing to go as far to say that Jeff Bridges is. I can get past the imperfections of the storyline and the slight melodramatic feel the last third of the film emanates when the film boasts a cast as good as this. This is a solid film that is a pure delight to watch. And best of all, it nabbed Jeff Bridges a long overdue Oscar win.

People have already started the comparison, and not without some reason, of Crazy Heart with last year's film about a down-on-his-luck old timer in his chosen profession, The Wrestler. And sure the comparisons can be made quite a lot, not simply due to the same studio, Fox Searchlight, distributing the films, or that the main characters are practically washed-up in what they do but keep chugging along, or that they have medical problems, or that they're estranged from their kids, or that the woman in their lives is a stop-go-stop affair. The good news is the movies can stand on their own terms, but somehow, at the end of the day, I would probably prefer Aronofsky's gritty naturalism over the first time director Scott Cooper's more slick indie-treatment, with country and wide-open spaces substituting for grisly New Jersey.

And yet you should go see Crazy Heart, and it's not just for Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake, a country musician, 57, who has been on hard times for a while and whose main problem, alcoholism, prevents him from being an unstoppable musical force (think Johnny Cash with a little extra blues) and kind boyfriend to Jean (Gyllenhaal, also quite good). Well, it could almost be all for him - it's marvelous to see him transform into this character, somewhat reminiscent of 'the Dude', but with a more cynical view of life and his former partner (Tommy, surprisingly done by Colin Farrell), and how we really do want him to get better. It's a sympathetic portrait done by a master of American film acting, and even if you don't particularly love Country music it's a worthwhile venture to see him in it.

That's the other thing: the music is actually (and this is coming from a not-big-fan of Country music save for some exceptions like Cash and Williams) quite superb. All of the songs are charged either by a real drive to bring the house down with the joy of playing live, or by the tender moments such as the "Weary Kind" title track, which may, along with Bridges, get T-Bone Burnett his first Oscar nod. The music is one of the things that makes Blake's journey wonderful to watch, even if, sadly, the story is lacking in ways that other movies (not just The Wrestler) do much better. Only a third act twist seems to be compelling, as the rest of the story kind of coasts the characters along, the only roadblock Blake's drinking.

As sometimes happens, it's a towering performance in the midst of an otherwise competent, enjoyable but slight debut feature. But it is something, and often interesting.