back to browsing

Jesus' Son

1 disc
Region 1 USA/CA (info)

Alison Maclean's (CRUSH) exhilarating adaptation of Denis Johnson's acclaimed short story collection is a deeply compassionate portrait of one man's descent into drug addiction, filled with a potent blend of surreal imagery and gritty realism. Remaining true to Johnson's original text, and in keeping with the film's substance-soaked subject matter, the film is structured in a blurry, fractured fashion. Billy Crudup stars as FH, a Midwestern twenty-something in the 1970s who has decent intentions, but only seems to make things worse for everyone, including himself. When he meets Michelle (played with ferocious intensity by Samantha Morton), he finds himself falling deeper into the dangerous, desperate world of drug abuse. A tragic event forces FH to confront his destructive lifestyle head on, even when it appears it might be too late. Landing in Arizona, he gets a job writing the newsletter for an assisted living facility, and finds redemption when he's least expecting it. Crudup and Morton, both incredibly engaging screen presences, make JESUS' SON a powerful, darkly comic, and ultimately uplifting motion picture. Holly Hunter, Jack Black, and Denis Leary all make brief appearances as quirky characters FH meets along his journey.
Read More...
- Rating - Graphic drug use, strong language, sexuality and some violent images.
Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 25406
Credits

Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter, Jack Black, Denis Leary, Dennis Hopper, Will Patton, Greg Germann, John Ventimiglia, Ben Shenkman, Mark Webber
Critic Reviews

"A sweetly ingratiating performance by Billy Crudup and a volatile one by Samantha Morton....[The director] evinces a talent for atmosphere and extracting strong values from individual scenes..."
Variety
"...Suffused with irreverent, outrageous humor....Crudup's astonishing performance is energizing..."
Movieline's Hollywood Life
"...A lively, quirky, lyrically rambling meditation on life, death, and fate among the narcotically numbed-out....Unsparing in its depiction..."
Premiere
"...[Crudup] is wonderful..."
Film Comment
"...[Crudup is] sublime....An epiphany as credible as it is brilliantly staged..." Rating: A-
Entertainment Weekly
"...Maclean keeps her mesmerizing film spinning from hilarity to heartbreak....[Crudup is] an actor of fire and grace..."
Rolling Stone