Jeff Bridges gives yet another oscar deserving performance as Bad Blake in Scott Coopers tragically heart warming Crazy Heart. The film tells the story of Blakes coming to terms with his declining music career whilst seeking solitude and falling unexpectedly in love with like minded country music journalist Jean (played in a very understated way by Maggie Gyllenhaal).
Blake has been warned by his doctor that his chain smoking and whiskey consumption is leading him to an early grave (and during one hilarious yet uncomfortable performance at the start of the film, the audience is led to be entirely in agreement) but it takes a slight mishap involving a lost child to actually wake Blake up and visit rehab. By this point of course Jean has little faith left him in and their suprisingly sweet romance begins to fall apart.
Thankfully Crazy Heart is neither soppy or predictable (attributed in no small part by Bridges wonderfully humane performance) and relies strongly on the superbly shot musical passages, which are shot so well I wanted to stand up and clap in the cinema at the end of each song!
Throughout the film it becomes clear that Blake has an arch enemy called Tommy Sweet (played acceptably but not memorably by Colin Farrell, who fails at being anywhere near as charismatic as Bridges, unsurprisingly). We discover that Tommy and Blake were once in a band together and when the two finally end up sharing a stage together they have a sentimental and touching catch up in the venue's car park. Tommy's small fortune isn't helping his song writing so he pleads with Blake to write him his next hit.
Without giving much away, Crazy Heart is quite simply, a joy. The soundtrack (including a perfectly timed Townes Van Zandt number) cinematography and pacing are all perfectly melded together, making this a candidate for one of my films of the year so far.
Finally, the use of the bar/bowling lane at the start of the film was genius. Just check out the last scene of Big Lebowski and you'll see what I mean.
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