Salina Art Center

Robert Duvall won his only Oscar for Tender Mercies, where he played a once-famous Country singer whose career is bottoming out, but gets a possible shot of moral redemption from a kind-hearted younger woman. Duvall co-produced and has a supporting role in Crazy Heart, a film with a similar story and much the same low-key ambiance and humanity of the older film. The central figure of Crazy Heart is another acting veteran who inhabits each role with seemingly effortless grace—and this film might be his long-overdue Oscar recognition. It’s hard to think of Jeff Bridges as a “veteran” though here, as down-and-out Country singer “Bad Blake,” he looks and seems as weathered as a piece of well-worn leather—not just physically due to his character’s age and alcoholism, but from the accumulation of a lot of life experience. Yet this is the fresh-faced youth who attracted popular and critical acclaim in films like The Last Picture Show (almost 40 years ago!) and Starman. Bridges has for decades been one of those relaxed, easy-going performers that audiences take for granted, in both starring and supporting roles, yet he’s amassed a varied resume that includes cult faves (The Big Lebowski), infamous flops (Heaven’s Gate), character-driven dramas (The Contender), and recent blockbusters (Iron Man). He never seems to be acting, yet he’s almost always right for his role. There’s something inherently likeable about Bridges, even when he’s playing villains or jerks. Crazy Heart provides him with one of his greatest roles, as a broken-down wreck of an entertainer whose glory days are long behind him. Gone are the boyishly handsome good looks, the youthful glow and innocence we remember of the actor’s characters from years past—here, Bridges is utterly convincing as a man who’s spent a lifetime on the road and is now paying the price for those “good times.”  Bad Blake isn’t a shallow, self-pitying lout; he has charm and magnetism, but he’s become jaded. He’s lost his passion for life and doesn’t know where to find it outside a bottle. Trying to help him are Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist who becomes romantically attached to him; Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), a now-famous performer who toured with Blake as a kid, but hasn’t forgotten his mentor; and bartender Wayne (Duvall), an old friend who dispenses hard-earned wisdom. Writer-director Scott Cooper, adapting the novel by Thomas Cobb, avoids flashy technique, allowing the story and the characters to hold our interest: every line of dialogue, every character reaction, every situation and emotion, is accurate and true. Every detail feels authentic, including the original songs written by T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton. Bridges does his own singing, too, and has the look and sound of a genuine honkytonk veteran: his manner is polished from years of performing his greatest hits, the voice is confident but as scratchy as an old Hank William record, revealing the wear and tear of long nights and countless whiskey bottles. It’s not an actor showing off his vocal chops to demonstrate his versatility—it’s that merging of actor and character that few others can really pull off. Loosely based on Waylon Jennings (who was once considered for the role), Bad Blake is a throwback to Country music’s notorious antiheroes, musicians who toted guns, got into brawls, broke the law, often did prison time, and seemed to live from one hangover to the next. But Crazy Heart isn’t about bad behavior so much as recovering from those choices to develop a moral consciousness—even at the age of 57. It’s a tough-minded, mature film, bolstered by an unforgettable lead performance; critic Nick Pinkerton of The Village Voice rightly calls it “a well-done, adult American movie—that is to say, a rarity.” A rarity well worth seeking.