Crazy Heart

2009, Rated R, 112 minutes, Directed by Scott Cooper, Written by Scott Cooper based on a novel by Thomas Cobb, Produced by Scott Cooper, T-Bone Burnett, Robert Duvall,  Cinematography by Barry Markowitz, Original Music by Stephen Bruton & T-Bone Burnett

With: Jeff Bridges (Bad Blake), James Keane (Manager), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jean Craddock), Colin Farrell (Tommy Sweet), Robert Duvall (Wayne)

I have always been interested in the creative process of songs. So many of them are heartbreaking and I wonder if that really happened to the artist. The tagline for Crazy Heart was “The harder the life, the sweeter the fall.” Let me just say that Bad Black (Jeff Bridges) had a hard life. The movie gives us an excellent and insightful picture into the life of an artist, but, moreover the life of a man struggling to overcome his past mistakes and confront his addictive present. It is a character driven film seen through the lens of music and life; both those elements of the film shine like a melodic sunset.

Bad Blake, is a 57 year old country music star, although his star days are long behind him. He travels the span of the West in his Suburban to play wherever he can get work; bars, bowling alleys, whatever it takes. From the moment you see him on the screen you can tell the musicians’ life has taken its toll on Blake. He is long past his prime but still goes out there playing every night no matter how sick or inebriated.

In Sante Fe, he meets a local reporter, Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), for an interview. They almost instantly fall in love with each other and it seems that Blake’s life may be turning around. He found a great girl who is deeply in love with him despite his flaws (although they do tear at her conscience) who has a child that he adores and he is finally starting to write songs again. But his lifestyle keeps getting in the way. His alcoholism strains their relationship. Bad wants to make it work, to use this relationship as an opportunity to turn his life around. At the same time however, he has not reached that rock bottom low that becomes the impetus for change. The two, are in a country version of Romeo and Juliet a pair of star-crossed lovers (minus the family feud).

The story plays out in the process of writing a song. Bad has trouble expressing himself in conversations and only seems to be able to find the right words when they are in verses and refrains. He toils over his life, reflects and improves himself and chronicles his experience in the song that won the Oscar for best original song, “Weary Kind (Crazy Heart).” 

That song is the icing on the cake of a wonderfully done movie. The entire time you know that Bad’s experiences in the movie are going to lead to this song, and that makes the movie all the more personal and real. Every man and woman troubles in life at some point. Bad seems to struggle with more than average but he is a struggler, an inherently fallen man like the rest of us. His life will stir you towards empathy and compassion but at the same time towards hope. Blake’s journey feels so real and authentic, personal and intimate. “Bad is an old dog who will always go through peaks and valleys but his story moves, in spite of that, towards redemption.”

Jeff Bridges really earned his Oscar for this one. It is his embodiment of Blake in all his flaws and imperfections but at the same time his romanticism and hope for redemption that make Bad such a resonate character. Bridges runs full force into this role and makes Blake seem so real (I half expected to be able to go to ticketmaster and find out where he was playing next). I was so excited to see in the credits that he did, in fact, perform the songs in the movie himself. Bridges fit into the role like a tight fitting glove that brings great warmth and comfort amidst the surrounding environment.

The entire cast delivered phenomenal performances. Maggie Gyllenhaal had to play a very complicated and conflicted character. She was a free spirit who lived for adventure and was attracted to bad boys, but at the same time a deeply devoted single parent who wanted to stop making mistakes with men and create a stable home for her son. Her eyes, her expressions, her lines were all delivered in a way that revealed the conflicted nature of her soul. 

Bring the two main characters together and you see why the movie is so successful. Gyllenhall points out “the movie can only work if you feel like Jean and Bad are completely in love with each other, and despite the fact that he’s much older and that they might seem like improbable lovers, they’re drawn to each other like magnets.”  Blake sees in Jean a last chance at redemption, a beacon of hope and shining light amidst his dark and tumbling world. Jean sees in Blake, a troubled and flawed individual but she also sees his love and romanticism and is drawn to that like a bee to honey. At the same time she has trouble seeing the two of them together and that conflict plays out so well on screen. You cannot get much better material for a hit country song.

The music felt so authentic throughout the movie. In the first interview with Blake, Jean asks him about “real” country. I am not a fan of pop country at all but I absolutely loved this music. T-Bone Burnet and Stephen Bruton (who died of cancer just weeks after finishing work on this movie) created an soulful sound that harkened back to the legends of country: “To create Bad’s music they didn’t want it to match or fit into any clear categories of country music as we know it these days. We put together a list of what Bad listened to growing up and worked from there.” They created a country music that is deeply connected to the roots of country music and the South itself. The music was compelling and intimate, real and meaningful and significantly contributed to the pace and tone of the film.

Crazy Heart is an honest movie with powerful performances and soulful music. It is a wonderful story of music, life, love, brokenness and redemption. I was transfixed during the credits as my mind ran through the implications and commentary of the film while my heart raced through the emotions as I felt for Blake and hoped for his future. Scott Cooper created a world that felt real and made a film that resonates deep within the human soul.

A

Quotes were taken from the production notes section of the official website for Crazy Heart, http://www.foxsearchlight.com/crazyheart/

Content Advisory

there is the beginning of a sex scene where a woman is shown in her underwear and she is pleasured, there is a fair amount of profanity throughout, and heavy drinking

Food for thought/discussion

1. What is Blake missing or searching for throughout the film?

2. Does Blake find redemption? How does the movie define redemption?

3. How does this movie resonate with someone who is not a musician?

4. In the final shot of the movie we are left with the open expanse of the countryside as Blake talks with a now engaged Jean. Where does the film leave Blake on his life journey? How has he changed? Where do you think he is going? What else does he need for redemption?