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Jesus' Son (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:40
Fresh:33
Rotten:7
Average Rating:7.2/10
Synopsis: 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... 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. [More]
Starring: Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter, Jack Black
Starring: Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter, Jack Black, Denis Leary, Dennis Hopper, Will Patton, Greg Germann, John Ventimiglia, Ben Shenkman, Mark Webber
Director: Alison Maclean
Director: Alison Maclean
Screenwriter: Elizabeth Cuthrell, Oren Moverman, David Urrutia
Producer: Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia, Lydia Dean Pilcher
Reviews for Jesus' Son
The film uses dreamlike quality to evoke youth subculture of the 1970s, and Billy Crudup is perfectlt cast as a man who believes he possesses healing powers and wants to do good, but his attempts always end disastrously
Manages to blend its stories together into a nearly seamless narrative, sliding dreamily from one episode to the next before we even realize we've gone.
Despite the occasional miscalculation and disappointing last half-hour, an estimable piece of work.
When the film finds a note of bittersweet conclusion, I'm wondering why all these colorful threads remained so loose when they might have woven into an interesting story.
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