Jesus' Son

I was totally disarmed by this wonderful movie! Most movies about drug addiction hit you over the head with the misery and destruction of the users. Yet this movie was about so much more--a whole host of characters marching to a different beat. This movie told it's tale in short snippets...I almost felt like I was eavesdropping or spying on the characters at various moments in their lives. Nice balance of lightheartedness and seriousness. Some truly great lines. When a nurse tells FH his girlfriend is comfortable now. He asks with total naivete: "Is she dead?"

I see that others here have problems with the title and the reference to Jesus. Not me. Aren't all of us (and esecially the world's "losers") just Christ figures waiting for redemption. It made me think of the line, the meek shall inherit the earth. The mystical touches, whether drug induced or not, were wonderful.

I chose to see "Jesus' Son" for Billy Crudup and director Allison Maclean, who did the terrifically creepy romantic short I saw on the Sci Fi Channel a few weeks ago, "Kitchen Sink."

"Jesus' Son" is a picaresque road movie traveling through addictions, and manages to miss wallowing in the depression that made "Leaving Las Vegas" so unrelenting . Samantha Morton has incredible chemistry with Crudup who is fascinating to keep watching even as his character is a passive naif whom we really don't learn anything about.

My biggest complaint is that the cameos by recognizable and/or famous actors (Denis Leary, Jack Black of "High Fidelity," Holly Hunter, Dennis Hopper) make the source material of short stories--which I assume are where the chapter headings come from-- too obvious; I would have preferred intriguing character actors or complete unknowns.

This is one of those "little movies" where you see a filmmaker in love with her tools of the medium, because it is both literate and explores the story visually, with judicious use of fantasies and hallucinations.

The Joe Henry musical score is wonderful, and the soundtrack selection of alt.country, including several Wilco songs, and offbeat rock and r & b classics are also commentaries on the action (amusingly the only Henry song used comes in over the radio that an annoyed Crudup turns off in order to hear the dialog).

(originally written 6/24/2000)

I enjoyed this, it's different. The plot is non-linear, but that doesn't really matter. It contains scenes that may disturb, but for one reason or another, I forgot to be disturbed. The acting is very good, I don't think I'd ever seen a Billy Crudup film before, and came away with a new name to search for. The soundtrack is excellent, the humour is odd, but it's the supporting cast which make the film; the cameo's are all spot on. I dislike Denis Leary, but he's good here, I wasn't a particularly big fan of JB Jack Black either, but he shines here and I saw him in a new light.

Low budget, sure, more films could do with the charm of this one, it tries to do something different, and I think it's a winner.

This film was buried here- apart from the acclaim in 'Uncut' magazine; I didn't manage to see this 'til this year. My initial viewing was a little underwhelmed- being a fan of Johnson's book I had worked this up to impossible heights in my mind. However, on a second viewing I enjoyed the film more- the nouvelle-vague via Scorsese editing & structure seemed much better 2nd time around.

The film is closest to 'Drugstore Cowboy'- though parts such as the split-screen or the digital editing as F***head takes pills in the Emergency Room could have come from 'Requiem for a Dream'. The source stories have been extended and made more cohesive- as with the adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr's 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' by Uli Edel.

The film is wonderfully shot- a great scene is the drive-in/cemetery that plays 'Carnival of Souls' (though I thought I saw Samantha Morton caught in an almost Anton 'Depeche Mode' Corbijin style!); imagine 'Zabriskie Point' without the metaphysical masturbation...

The acting is uniformly great- Crudup & Morton are fantastic leads, while Denis Leary, Greg Germann, Holly Hunter are among the excellent supports. The short Dennis Hopper shaving scene is one of the greatest pieces of cinema I have seen in recent years; while Jack Black almost steals the film with his amusing "listen to my shoes". And Denis Johnson is great as hunting knife in eye guy. Oh and Will Patton pops up as 'John Smith'- still he was in 'The Postman', so not quite yet forgiven.

The soundtrack (chosen by Johnson) is great- Neil Young's 'Cowgirl in the Sand', Wilco's 'Airline to Heaven' & 'She's a Jar', 'Hang on Sloopy' and the great score. The highlight is Morton's gyrating dance to 'Oh Sweet Pea'- almost as great as that dance scene ripped off for 'Pulp Fiction' from Godard's 'Bande a Part'.Only quibble is- where was 'Heroin' by The Velvet Underground?

'Jesus' Son' is a touching, funny, and tender film that deserves to find an audience. There are too many great moments here- Hunter's arm waving in the air, Beverly Home, the Amish, the laundry scene, the ER scene, the rabbits roadtrip etc. Terribly depressing that mediocrity like 'Human Traffic' & 'Trainspotting' finds an audience here- but a film like this isn't allowed to (except at a few arthouse cinemas). Pity- and Alison MacLean's debut 'Crush' is also excellent; here's to possible adaptations of Denis Johnson's 'Already Dead' & 'The Name of the World'- by David Lynch and Paul Schrader respectively (hopefully)...Check out Johnson's books- as this film's use of voiceover stems right from them.

"Searching for Meaning" could be the title of the movie as well as of the reactions of many people who didn't want to see below the mixed-up surface of the film. The story is the random ramblings of a reformed drug addict looking for some meaning to life, death, and the difference between the two.

There are some interesting symbols: a man with Jesus' heart, a singing Menonite mermaid in a shower, drugs as an escape from the drug called life, etc. Not the average stuff of a mainstream movie which explains why this is an independent film.

We go along on an oddly comic journey during which we contemplate the price we pay for our dreams, explore the way we hide our deformities from the world, realize that we pretend to be normal because we want to be normal -- whatever normal is. We all want to find our place in a strange world where we have to consider the answers to the questions "Why did God make us?" and "Why did God make us the way we are?"

The solution to the riddles seems to be connecting with all our fellow riddlers, realizing that we'll understand someday what it all means.

This is a disturbing, funny, sad film -- not for everybody, but an interesting experience for people who don't mind thinking about what is being shown on the screen.