THE MOVIE CRAZY HEART

I can't believe it's taken me almost two months to finally see Crazy Heart. Lack of time is the only reason because ever since I saw the preview of Jeff Bridges looking like Kris Kristofferson from his Closer to the Bone cover, I've been curious.

With the tagline "The harder the life, the sweeter the song" I knew Crazy Heart would tell the tale of a hard-living musician caught up in booze and women, but would the movie stand out, would the actors develop interesting characters that pulled you in and would the music frankly be any good?

YES, YES and YES!

THE FILM:

Crazy Heart, based on Thomas Cobb's book, tells the story of country music legend Bad Blake (Bridges). The glory days for the 57 year old Blake are long gone and the years on the road combined with the reckless lifestyle show all over his face. Blake finds himself broke, divorced (several times), unmotivated and playing small town bars and bowling alleys to support his drinking and chain smoking habits. Along the way he meets Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who allows Blake into her life and becomes the inspiration for Blake's new material as he attempts to regain his former fame.

THE ACTING:

Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal have received the majority of the press surrounding Crazy Heart and rightfully so, but I had no idea the movie also starred Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell. Both, but especially Farrell as Blake's former protege enhance Jeff Bridges performance. A performance that has already garnered Bridges a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for best actor.

Jeff Bridges

In Blake, Bridges takes on a character that we've seen many times in other films, but in Crazy Heart, Bridges makes Blake his own. The first piece is that he sings the songs and he sings the songs in a voice indicative of Blake's lifestyle. Second, Bridges creates believable traits in Blake that range from biscuit making, to the way he holds the booze bottle to driving his truck with his pants undone. And third, Bridges adds a lovable personality to Blake so even when he's screwing up you want to root for him and your heart breaks in the last two scenes with Gyllenhaal. You add it all up and I can understand the accolades.

Maggie Gyllenhall

Frances McDormand and Edward Norton are the only two actors I'll go see no matter what their in, but Maggie Gyllenhaal may become the third. Her performances in Secretary, Sherry Baby, and World Trade Center were exceptional and she didn't disappoint in Crazy Heart either.

Playing journalist and single mom Jean Craddock, Gyllenhaal had the tough duty of convincing me that she really was in love with a man 20+ years her senior, but she did it. The way she grabbed Blake's face was so real and the emotional delivery in key scenes were so natural, there's no wonder she's nominated for an Oscar for this performance.

THE MUSIC:

This is a music blog so lets get to the other main component of this film- the music. The main man behind crafting the sound of Crazy Heart was T Bone Burnett.

Burnett, seems like a perfect choice as the Grammy winning producer of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack has worked on several films including another country music gem Walk The Line. On Crazy Heart, Burnett co-wrote five out of the six original songs and co-produced the soundtrack with Stephan Bruton.

The original lyrics sung by Jeff Bridges in the film capture the life experiences of Bad Blake and Burnett used classic country instrumentation to complete the songs. Both ingredients were essential because without them, I could NOT have bought into Bridges performance.

The Crazy Heart soundtrack is available now on New West Records.

-Tammy Good (entry and photo)