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Crazy Heart (Film)
Rating: M
Running Time: 111
Country: English
Director: Scott Cooper
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Film Worth: $15.50
Release Date: February 18, 2010
Deeply felt performances, great music and pitch-perfect detail make this a film to be cherished
With the utterly divine Crazy Heart, small time actor turned highly impressive director Scott Cooper has joined a very rare movie club (alongside the likes of Quentin Tarantino, The Coen Brothers and Vincent Gallo) in making a low budget debut wonder that edges awfully, dangerously close to masterpiece territory. In an age of CGI theatrics and 3-D "event cinema", Cooper proves that there's always room for a small but perfectly formed film that trades in real, bona fide human emotions and unforgettable characters that are as recognisable as they are mythic. In short, Crazy Heart is a film to be cherished, not just for its brilliance, but for what it stands for in today's often way-too-slick film market.
Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges in a performance of rumpled majesty that should hopefully see him showered with awards from pillar to post) is a past-his-prime, broken down country singer who was once great, but is now reduced to playing bowling alleys for chump change. Sweating booze and prone to making the wrong decision, Bad is offered two shots at redemption: his onetime guitar player, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell in a charming, low key turn), is now a star in his own right, and wants to tour and record with his former mentor; and novice journalist and single mum, Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal at her natural, raw-boned best), who provides the kind of warmth and solace that could turn Bad's life around.
From the believable, beautiful music (courtesy of legendary music producer T-Bone Burnett, with Bridges and Farrell doing their own singing) to the stark, simple imagery, Crazy Heart gets all of the details just right. The story might not be anything particularly groundbreaking, but Scott Cooper invests it with such truth, passion, rich characterisation and raw emotional honesty that Crazy Heart feels freshly minted. It's a near certainty to be the film of the year.