“Crazy Heart” (2009)

Jeff Bridges is the most underrated leading man of his generation.  From  “The Last Picture Show”, “Fat City”, and “The Fabulous Baker Boys” to “The Fisher King”, “Fearless” and “The Big Lebowski” Bridges has consistently delivered as an actor for forty years.  He’s worked with directors as diverse as John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Cimino, Peter Weir, Terry Gilliam and the Coen brothers.  Now, finally, it looks as though he’s about to win an Oscar.

It would be easy to be cynical about the fact.  “Crazy Heart”, the vehicle in question, could be seen as a mere means to an end.  Bridges is wonderful as Bad Blake an alcoholic, down-on-his-luck country legend travelling from small town to small town eking out a living on what remains of his reputation.  Whether Bridges is significantly better in the role than any of the others listed above is a debatable point though.  There’s an early scene in which Blake is sitting at a bar which is shot in a remarkably similar manner to much of “The Big Lebowski”. It started me wondering as to why there is so much award buzz over this film when Bridges was equally good 12 years ago in his defining performance.

Stripped of all the Oscar politics and the pressing need to recognise its lead actor for a life time’s work “Crazy Heart” is a damn fine tale of love, loss and redemption.  Give it a year or two and it may well be recognised as a contemporary American classic.  Particularly if your tastes run to country music.

Bridges is not the whole film.  The support work of Maggie Gyllenhaal as the reporter one generation down who catches his eye is noteworthy in its own regard.  Gyllenhaal has the looks and the ability to play ‘girl next door’ parts without sliding into cliche or indulging in special pleading.  She’s always impressed as a credible human being on screen and finds a match in Bridges’ down-home charm.  There’s genuine chemistry between the two, in spite - or perhaps because of - the age difference.

Robert Duvall’s makes the minor role of Blake’s friend and mentor memorable as only he can.  There’s a satisfying feel to Duvall’s presence and producer credit given that he won his own Oscar back in 1983 for the almost identically themed “Tender Mercies”.  He is, presumably, as big an aficionado of country music as his character.

Visually “Crazy Heart” is more assured than you might expect from first time director Scott Cooper.  The Texas vistas provide an aesthetically arresting back drop, one that informs both the loneliness and the  inspiration of Blake’s character.  Cooper has a great eye for negative space, often framing Blake in the corner of an image.  More intimate scenes, and those of musical performance, complement this style by favouring revelatory close-ups.

Obviously “Crazy Heart” will most appeal to country fans.  The score by T-Bone Burnett and the late Stephen Bruton has been celebrated by those more in the know about the genre than I.  More fundamentally it’s an affecting drama that transcends the slightly familiar feeling plot.  Few tales of artistic rebirth ring as true as this.