There's been some "Oscar buzz" (as we in the industry call it) about Jeff Bridges's performance in Crazy Heart. It's a good film, and he's certainly good in it, but if he wins it would be one of those instances of a performance award being de facto a lifetime-achievement award. I, for one, would never begrudge him that, though.
And someone (Tom, maybe) said that Crazy Heart pretty much looked like a country-music version of The Wrestler. Having now seen it, that's actually not that far off: a performer past his prime trying to get his life—both professional and personal—back together, an estranged child, a possibly redemptive love interest. That said, The Wrestler is the better film.
It's pretty apparent, though, that first-time writer and director Scott Cooper is a big fan of at least one other installment in Bridges's filmography. Let's look at the evidence:
- Our protagonist sits at the bar in a bowling alley, with the lanes visible behind him over his shoulders.
- He fishes his sunglasses out of a less-than-sanitary receptacle.
- He collapses in an intoxicated stupor, with the camera right under his face looking up, in a room darker than a steer's tuckus on a moonless night.
- He meets an Hispanic guy named Jesús.
On one level, they were a bit too clever in an eye-winking kind of way, taking me out of the drama and pathos the film was trying to convey. On another level, however, it was fun spotting them.
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