Crazy Heart

Defiinitely 5 Go's! Definitely!

Jeff Bridges earned and deserved his Oscar.  There are those who say that he was rewarded as much for his body of work as for Crazy Heart.  That may be true.  But Crazy Heart was enough. 

If you're looking for a happy, "feel good" movie, this ain't it.  You'll have to get your rainbows and "white horse into the sunset" somewhere else.  Okay... you may get a rusty ol' truck into the sunset at the end of this one.  And the truck may have a li'l hope shoved in the back, but... well... I'll leave it there.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is extraordinary.  I mean... I don't know her or anything, but she was extraordinary in the movie - and I'm guessing that if you were lucky enough to run into her today at say... the grocery store... I'd bet she'd still be extraordinary.  Just guessing.

At first, I thought it was a very unlikely pairing, but not for long.  I think I'd like to see the movie again - to watch it develop again.  What man wouldn't/couldn't fall in love with Maggie Gyllenhall?  That's a "duh"!  But the other way around?  Interesting, to say the least.

The time flew by.  I tend to watch the time when I watch a movie (bad habit) to judge how far along we are in plot resolution, but not on this one.  I totally forgot about the time.

Oh! By the way, I Googled Maggie Gyllenhall to see what I could find out and I found her in Wiki with this note:

"Margaret Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhall, pronounced /ˈdʒɪlənhɑːl/...."

Go ahead.  Pronounce that. I dare you!  The artist formerly known as Maggie Ruth???

I digress!

SO... the music!  I heard Jeff Bridges say that he turned down the script at first - because there was no music in the movie.  Hellllooooooo?  No music in a movie about a Country Western musician?  No wonder he turned it down.  Makes sense to me.  He didn't even have to call for my opinion on that one!

When Jeff (no more Mr. Bridges for us.  I'm jane - he's Jeff) talked about the music in the interview I watched - and talked about T-Bone Burnett getting involved - his face was just one big grin.  But then, how could it NOT be?  T-Bone Burnett?? 

So... T-Bone and Jeff agreed to do the movie.  T-Bone and an old friend, guitarist, and songwriter: Stephen Bruton, co-wrote most of the music for the movie.  T-Bone said that the following two lines from one of the songs were the fulcrum for the movie:

"I used to be somebody

Now I'm somebody else"

So... Ryan Bingham, a young musician from New Mexico, landed a part as a member of Bad Blake's pickup band.  He played a portion of his incomplete song, "The Weary Kind" for T-Bone.  T-Bone told him immediately that it would be the title song for the movie.  Can you imagine how that young man must have felt?  28 years old - the title song for a movie.  Pretty cool.

And now... the winner of an Academy Award for best original song.  Life changing, for sure. 

 "And this ain’t no place for the weary kind
And this ain’t no place to lose your mind
And this ain’t no place to fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try"
 by Ryan Bingham

So if you're getting the message that I think  you should go, you are soooooo right!  (If you already saw the movie, let me know what you think about it)

Go!  Go!  Go!  Go!  Go!