Dir. Scott Cooper US 2009
So I've divided movies I'm reviewing that I don't see in theaters into two categories (loosely): Things that I'm watching for the first time and things I've already seen. This review will contain the former. As you may have guessed.
I'll start with The Messenger, since it's freshest in my mind. If you don't know the premise, it's a good one, the kind I wish I'd thought of. Ben Foster plays Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army Sgt. sent home after sustaining heroic injuries in Iraq. While rehabilitating, Will is assigned to serve out the last three months of his enlistment with the Casualty Notification service (the soldiers who go door to door informing people that their sons/daughters/whoever have been killed in action). His CO, Captain Tony Stone (an Academy-Award nominated Woody Harrelson) is an irritable, by-the-book hardass who has become jaded toward his morbid duty. Together they must deal with the horror of war as it has affected them and the families of their fellow soldiers.
So yeah, it's a bit of a downer. But it's great, for a variety of reasons. The gripping premise alone is a fascinating look into a world of grief that most of us will never experience and an aspect of the armed forces that most people don't really think about. Also excellent are the two leads. Ben Foster is rapidly becoming one of my favorite actors. In addition to being the best thing about the 3:10 To Yuma remake, he's turned in some great supporting performances in 30 Days Of Night and Alpha Dog. It's nice to see him featured as a lead and he definitely earns it, bringing serious anger and pathos to the role. Even better is Woody Harrelson, who also starred in Zombieland at the time The Messenger came out. Although his performance in the former film is the type that most people associate him with nowadays, he earned a well deserved Oscar nod for this film, playing a soldier dealing with a different kind of guilt than you'd find in most 'war' films. Never forget that Woody Harrelson comes from some pretty hardcore stock. Goddamn.
The only small complaint I had about the film was the subplot in which Ben Foster's character gets involved with a war widow played by Samantha Morton. Samantha Morton is great in the film (not to mention realistically attractive, which I appreciated; a lesser film would have cast someone like Charlize Theron in the part, which wouldn't have worked), but I felt like that plot line just stopped and started at random. I always found myself more interested in the relationship between Foster and Harrelson's characters than anything else. Nonetheless, the film is moving and topical without being political, and succeeds at being one of the few well made movies about the current war (other than The Hurt Locker).
Crazy Heart, while ultimately more uplifting, is also a pretty heavy film starring the great Jeff Bridges (in a well-deserved Oscar-winning performance), as 'Bad' Blake, a country singer in the vein of Waylon Jennings. Blake, once immensely popular, has become a washed-up drunk, reduced to playing in bowling alleys and bars in no-name towns, while his protege, Tommy Sweet (an uncredited and surprisingly subdued Colin Farrell) is selling out stadiums. While playing a show in Texas, Blake meets Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a local newspaper reporter who wants to write a story on him. He eventually grows close to her and her 4 year old son, setting the stage for redemption, angst and all the good stuff in between.
So, despite 'Bad' Blake not being a real person, Crazy Heart does end up feeling a bit like a Oscar-bait biopic at times. It hits all the same emotional notes and ends more or less where you'd expect it to. What really elevates this movie above the rest of its kind are the music and the performances.
The music, composed mostly by T-Bone Burnett (who also netted a well deserved Oscar for this film) makes for a great soundtrack, with catchy tunes that inform the plot and state of the characters. Definitely something I wouldn't mind owning. Jeff Bridges (and Colin Farrell) do all their own singing for the film, and both seem to have a real talent for it. You'll definitely finish the film with a greater interest in country music than when you started.
Acting-wise, Jeff Bridges give what I could tritely call the performance of a lifetime in this film. 'Bad' Blake seems superficially similar to Bridges' other famous role, The Dude; both are cavalier substance-abusers, one notch above homeless, grinding toward their declining years with what seems to be not a care in the world. Bridges, however, brings a sense of sadness and desperation to the part that cuts through his drunken antics and showboating, making you feel bad for him despite the fact that he has no one but himself to blame for how fucked up his life is. I think people give Bridges less credit than he deserves (until this movie apparently) because his acting is so natural that it's easy to miss all the nuance and detail in his performances, especially when it seems like he's playing himself. Equally believable is his May/December romance with Maggie Gyllenhaal's character which, given the 28 year age difference between the two actors, had the potential to come off as laughable or creepy. Luckily, Maggie Gyllenhaal projects a maturity (both in her character and in real life) that makes it work.
Seeing as how these were both limited run releases late last year, I imagine a lot of people were aware of them, but never got around to seeing them. They both come highly recommended.
The only small complaint I had about the film was the subplot in which Ben Foster's character gets involved with a war widow played by Samantha Morton. Samantha Morton is great in the film (not to mention realistically attractive, which I appreciated; a lesser film would have cast someone like Charlize Theron in the part, which wouldn't have worked), but I felt like that plot line just stopped and started at random. I always found myself more interested in the relationship between Foster and Harrelson's characters than anything else. Nonetheless, the film is moving and topical without being political, and succeeds at being one of the few well made movies about the current war (other than The Hurt Locker).
Crazy Heart, while ultimately more uplifting, is also a pretty heavy film starring the great Jeff Bridges (in a well-deserved Oscar-winning performance), as 'Bad' Blake, a country singer in the vein of Waylon Jennings. Blake, once immensely popular, has become a washed-up drunk, reduced to playing in bowling alleys and bars in no-name towns, while his protege, Tommy Sweet (an uncredited and surprisingly subdued Colin Farrell) is selling out stadiums. While playing a show in Texas, Blake meets Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a local newspaper reporter who wants to write a story on him. He eventually grows close to her and her 4 year old son, setting the stage for redemption, angst and all the good stuff in between.
So, despite 'Bad' Blake not being a real person, Crazy Heart does end up feeling a bit like a Oscar-bait biopic at times. It hits all the same emotional notes and ends more or less where you'd expect it to. What really elevates this movie above the rest of its kind are the music and the performances.
The music, composed mostly by T-Bone Burnett (who also netted a well deserved Oscar for this film) makes for a great soundtrack, with catchy tunes that inform the plot and state of the characters. Definitely something I wouldn't mind owning. Jeff Bridges (and Colin Farrell) do all their own singing for the film, and both seem to have a real talent for it. You'll definitely finish the film with a greater interest in country music than when you started.
Acting-wise, Jeff Bridges give what I could tritely call the performance of a lifetime in this film. 'Bad' Blake seems superficially similar to Bridges' other famous role, The Dude; both are cavalier substance-abusers, one notch above homeless, grinding toward their declining years with what seems to be not a care in the world. Bridges, however, brings a sense of sadness and desperation to the part that cuts through his drunken antics and showboating, making you feel bad for him despite the fact that he has no one but himself to blame for how fucked up his life is. I think people give Bridges less credit than he deserves (until this movie apparently) because his acting is so natural that it's easy to miss all the nuance and detail in his performances, especially when it seems like he's playing himself. Equally believable is his May/December romance with Maggie Gyllenhaal's character which, given the 28 year age difference between the two actors, had the potential to come off as laughable or creepy. Luckily, Maggie Gyllenhaal projects a maturity (both in her character and in real life) that makes it work.
Seeing as how these were both limited run releases late last year, I imagine a lot of people were aware of them, but never got around to seeing them. They both come highly recommended.
I read your blog and then I log in to netflix to update my list. Just wanted to tell you that. :)
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