Wow. Amazing.

Rating: 10/10 (8 January 2019)

I was late getting to this film but worth the wait! A simple, not entirely original story: Bad Blake, an ageing, has been, alcoholic singer/songwriter on the road to ruin tries to revive his career and life. The simple plot works though because this is a character study of the highest order. Jeff Bridges makes us feel this man is real with a performance totally deserving of the Oscar he won after 5 previous nominations. As well as the broad bravura acting on display, it's the small details that he finds that make it so wonderful to watch - dropping his cigarette in a glass he's just asked someone to hold, reaching for a door chain that isn't there, finding a business card a woman gave him after an unfulfilled evening with a woman he likes.
Crazy Heart is a film about loss and about new beginnings. Maybe an old cliché retold but not a cliché character or moment here.