Product: Jesus' Son [VHS]
Rating: 4.0
Really Extraordinary Movie
The story of "Jesus' Son" is lifted from a series of short stories by author Denis Johnson. That explains the jostling and somewhat disjointed episodes of FH's (Billy Crudup) life. Given the subject, I think jostled and disjointed works to its credit."Jesus' Son" is a story about a man named FH. FH is a junkie. His girlfriend Michelle (Samantha Morton) introduces him to heroin and a lifestyle that's... well, disjointed, focused on just getting by. It's a tender bond born of a shared weakness. FH soon becomes a hardcore drug addict, taking (and breaking) anything he comes into contact with. Thus begins a series of comic and tragic episodes featuring a motley crew of supporting characters (played in part by Jack Black, Denis Leary, and Denis Hopper).The movie represents drugs honestly. They aren't portrayed as evil, nor does the movie get caught up in nave drug glorification. The drug sequences are surreal and comical. They even add depth to FH's experience, not just in terms of short term sensory perception, but his experience of tragedy and human deprivation. The movie contains one of the funniest episodes I've ever seen, where FH becomes an emergency room orderly. He and fellow orderly Georgie (Jack Black) use their position to score drugs. When the ER is visited by a man with a Rambo style survival knife sticking through his eye (says FH, trying to out-pun the ER staff: "Patient complains of a stabbing headache."), the local doctor refuses to touch it. Georgie doesn't have similar scruples (or medical training). He emerges from the operating room knife in hand, apparently after gripping the handle and pulling it out. When the man survives without brain damage, one of the ER staff asks him what it is he does. "I save lives," says Georgie. It's one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen, in any move, period.When I see the drug scenes, I think of a quote by the late Hunter S. Thompson, "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." They work for FH, for a short time, until he realizes its give and take. He can't juggle the distractions of drugs with keeping a normal life, and through personal loss he finally appreciates what's happened to him, and sobers up. The ending isn't too sugary--FH learns through mistakes that had disastrous consequences. "Jesus' Son" is a really incredible movie. I highly recommend it.