danielbaylis.ca

“Your heart’s on the loose
You rolled them seven’s with nothing to lose
And this ain’t no place for the weary kind”

- The Weary Kind (Ryan Bingham)

The plot of “Crazy Heart” has been told a thousand times before: supposedly successful individual struggles with demons, watches his relationships fracture and then attempts to do something about it. But who says it’s necessary to have a creative plot for cinematic magic? In fact, if you can take a tired plot and inject it with characters that are both vulnerable and lovable, it suddenly has value. This is where Crazy Heart succeeds, in pairing heartfelt acting with a familiar tale. Jeff Bridges has rightfully earned the accolades bestowed upon him.

But it wasn’t just the acting (and it clearly wasn’t the plot) that leads me to recommend this movie. Growing up in the north of British Columbia, I was raised on country music, and there will always be something familiar and comforting about the genre. A well written country song can resonate a sentimental truth. If the song is especially strong, one is able to see themselves in the lyrics – “Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try.” The general expression revolves around life defeating circumstances and the struggle to find hope or purpose (i.e. My wife done left me and my dog died, but I’ve got a beer and I’m still alive). The songs of Crazy Heart are the tether that keeps the movie together.

As someone who struggles to align the abundant, beautiful possibilities that exist in his mind with the sometimes harshness of reality, I have often turned to a country song to alter my perspectives. Crazy Heart, through song and story, presents a man who is living a harsh reality, struggling to make changes, and trying to move himself towards new possibilities.

He has a cordial desire for something pure. And this is both relatable and delicately heartbreaking.

Related posts: