The Dendy Opera Quays is a frequent destination. This month they are screening the Oscar contenders. I plan to see them all.
Last week: 'Crazy Heart', Jeff Bridges' Oscar nominated role as Bad Blake, a pathetic, ‘stupporific,’ end of the road, alcoholic country singer. It’s an old story. 'The harder the life, the sweeter the song'. You know it without seeing the movie. Director Scott Cooper makes this visual experience so intimate, it is hard not to look away. Give Bridges credit for not buffing-up for this role.
But it’s not all man-boobs, vomit and piss. Bridges is a musician. The pre production preparation was so complete, so intense that in the music scenes, he is not acting. He really is a country singer. The concert scenes were filmed at a Toby Keith event in New Mexico. One question: Why doesn’t Colin Farrell get a credit?
This is the fifth Oscar nomination for Bridges. He’s an artist. His characters are compelling, the movies just a little off center: ‘The Last Picture Show’, ‘The Big Lebowski’, ‘Tron’, ‘K-Pax’, ‘Starman’, it is quirky collection. Bridges gravitates to scripts that explore and cherish life from an obtuse angle and often through pain. Remember ‘The Door in the Floor’? Bridges' most traditional roles were probably as the evil Obadiah Stane in ‘Iron Man’, Charles Howard in ‘Seabiscuit’, and my favourite, Jack Baker in ‘The Fabulous Baker Boys’. I am a groupie for the piano man.
Bridges performance and Oscar nomination have been compared to Mickey Rourke in ‘The Wrestler ‘. It’s an unfortunate comparison – Sean Penn won the Oscar.
My experience of this movie: I needed a tissue and in places the intimacy (not the sex) was so intense I had to avert my eyes. I don't know yet if I will add to my DVD collection. First I am going to get online to find a copy of 'The Fabulous Baker Boys'.
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