It’s Oscar time, so the local theatre has begun it’s one to two week screening of each Best Picture nominee. Every year I am so grateful to the Oscars and to this theatre for first publicizing these films and second screening them for my convenience. Crazy Heart is one of those films that I would have never been able to see in the theatre if it weren’t for this annual event. It’s a small movie with a great cast and fabulous music and I think it deserves all of the attention it has been given.
The film follows Bad Blake, an old school country music star who now plays gigs in small bars and bowling alleys. He travels around to these gigs in his beat up truck, his own roadie and entourage, and Jeff Bridges portrays him with absolute perfection. The film opens with Bad arriving at the bowling alley to check out his next gig, then checking into his hotel to finish most of a bottle of whiskey before showing up for his performance. It’s a sad existence, and I think Bad knows it, but he would never give up playing music and he won’t give up drinking whiskey. During his travels he meets Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a small town reporter looking for an interview, and she is somehow able to get him to open up to her and gets more questions answered than she meant to ask. The film follows Bad as he battles his alcoholism, his bruised ego (as he watches his former protege, Tommy Sweet, reach country music star status), and his best friend’s un-asked for wisdom (Wayne, played by Robert Duvall).
I really loved this movie and especially the music. It reminds me of the country music I listened to when I was a kid and Jeff Bridges is just so charming when he is on stage. It’s hard not to like a soundtrack put together by T Bone Burnett. The tone of the film reminded me of The Wrestler in a lot of ways, but the plot is not really similar at all. And the film held little gems scatter throughout with it’s casting. A one night stand is played by an actress in Donnie Darko. Robert Duvall is adorable as Bad’s bar-owning friend, and the best surprise is who was cast to play the part of Tommy Sweet, and how genuine that character turns out to be. It’s a great movie, made from real quality stuff, and definitely worth your time. It will probably get to DVD soon, so be sure to check it out. The soundtrack is worth a listen too.
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