Portrait of country codger gritty and authentic
In Crazy Heart, Scott Cooper's first feature film as writer and director, we're taken on a tour of the largely sordid personal space of an aging and fading country singing star, Bad Blake. T'ain't pretty.
You might want to stay behind the ropes, because getting too close will put you in touch with the sweat-soaked clothing and bourbon-laced fumes of a man who's been on the way down for some time. He knows it too, but not to what degree. As his own song lyric observes, "Sometimes fallin' feels like flyin'/ At least for a little while."
We see Bad for the first time, scraping the proverbial barrel bottom of his music career as he discovers he's been booked to perform at a New Mexico bowling alley and is down to his last $10. With cheap whiskey as his fickle nursemaid, he barely gets through the set. While this scenario sounds too much like the clichéd lyrics of a country song, Jeff Bridges' masterful portrayal of Bad ensures it doesn't feel that way.
Fast forward to Santa Fe, where Bad is interviewed by Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a thirty-something music reporter. Surprisingly, a romantic spark is fanned into an unsteady flame, and the two veterans of unsuccessful relationships find solace in each other. While there are natural questions about the plausibility of their relationship, the earnestness of the search is reflected in Gyllenhaal's luminous eyes and tear-smeared mascara.
Fighting against long shot odds to sustain love, Bad sees his fortunes continue to improve when he's given the chance to open at a major concert event headlined by a former protégé, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell) in Phoenix. The chance to rise from the ashes and fly again looks real enough, but all too soon Bad is grounded when he flips his Suburban on his way to see Jean. He emergence from the hospital on crutches and the image of him hobbling in a walking cast is an apt visual metaphor. Bad is the walking wounded, and in the particularity of his lonely and self-destructive life, he embodies something of the universal human condition. Alcohol is his most obvious crutch, and it's hard for him to imagine life without it.
Bridges has garnered numerous accolades for his performance in this film, including a Golden Globe and Screen Actor's Guild Award. He remains the odds-on favourite to take home this year's Best Actor Oscar. The superlatives are come by honestly as his physical persona reflects Bad's life-stage with an all-too-visible paunch and enough deeply etched crow's feet to scare off the most courageous Botox technician. His Texas drawl rings true, as does the ease with which he handles a guitar either on stage or reclining on his porch. Simply put, Jeff Bridges is Bad Blake, and once you've seen him, you can't imagine anyone else doing justice to this role.
T-Bone Burnett, already a legendary music producer and film score wunderkind, oversaw the music for the film (alongside the late Stephen Bruton), and delivers an authentic country sound. To boot, both Bridges and Farrell provide the actual singing in this film. They nail the songs, including the Oscar nominated The Weary Kind, a composition whose lyric supplies the film's title.
The value of seeing this film is not limited to appreciating its acting chops or musical bona fides. There is a redemptive theme, and while Bad is good, musically speaking, at what he does, being Bad is all he knows how to be. A few see the good in Bad, such as Wayne (Robert Duvall) the saloon owner who extends to him bartender mercies; he offers the unconditional friendship from which Bad gains strength. While the two are out fishing, Wayne counters Bad's assertion that his attempts to repair damaged relationships are too little, too late. His words echo across the water, "It's never too late; it's never too late."
I won't spill the beans about what Bad chooses, loses and gains through the end of the film, but it is definitely worth watching.
The gritty realism of this film will not be to everyone's taste. It is rated 14A in most parts of Canada for strong language and brief sexuality, but its authenticity makes the hopeful elements it contains that much more powerful.
Rated 3.5 out of 4 Stetsons.
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