So Well Executed

Rating: 9/10 (13 March 2010)

The keys to this movie are restraint and redemption. It would have been so easy to overdo a character, a scene, a theme, etc. But Bad Blake is not too crazy or wild. Maggie, Colin and Duvalls'characters are just laid back enough to seem genuine. Consider that the fans, sidemen, etc. are given lines and time enough to be authentic (usually the moron masses are treated like props). Its not some dramatic climax or epiphany that turns Bad Blake, its just him discovering what we've been watching for an hour or so. For that reason C-H is not so much an anti-alcohol film as it is about human redemption.
Yes the set up is very much like TENDER MERCIES, which has Duvall struggling with recovery. C-H is about redemption. Very different themes.