Closed Captioned; Soundtrack English; English Subtitles
Based on Denis Johnson's 1992 short story collection, JESUS' SON is a darkly comic depiction of an individual whose descent into drug addiction threatens to ruin him. Billy Crudup is FH, a well-intentioned loser who falls under the spell of Michelle (Samantha Morton). Together, they shoot heroin, fight, make up, and repeat the cycle. After a horrible tragedy devastates FH, he finds himself in Arizona, working at an assisted living facility, searching for redemption in sobriety. Alison Maclean's film is an impressive and entertaining portrait of debauchery, successfully blending drug-induced visions with an unflinching realism.
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.
Theatrical release: June 16, 2000 (NY/LA).
Author Denis Johnson plays the knife wound patient in the "Emergency" segment.
The film world-premiered at the 1999 Telluride Film Festival.
Billy Crudup and Denis Leary both appear in Ted Demme's MONUMENT AVE.
Singer-songwriter Joe Henry, Madonna's brother-in-law, composed music for the film.
At the 1999 Venice Film Festival, the film was nominated for the prestigious Golden Lion award.
Paul Tatara of cnn.com and A.O. Scott of the New York Times named JESUS' SON one of the 10 best films of 2000.
Jesus' Son Quotes/Excerpts:
"The travelling salesman had fed me pills that made the linings of my veins feel scraped out. My jaw ached. I knew every raindrop by its name. I sensed everything before it happened. I knew a certain Oldsmobile would stop for me even before it slowed, and by the sweet voices of the family inside it I knew we'd have an accident in the storm. I didn't care. They said they'd take me all the way."--FH (Billy Crudup) in voice-over
Jesus' Son Reviews:
"...Maclean keeps her mesmerizing film spinning from hilarity to heartbreak....[Crudup is] an actor of fire and grace..."
-- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"...[Crudup] is wonderful..."
-- Harlan Kennedy, Film Comment
"...[Crudup is] sublime....An epiphany as credible as it is brilliantly staged..." Rating: A-
-- Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly
"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..."
-- Todd McCarthy, Variety
"...Suffused with irreverent, outrageous humor....Crudup's astonishing performance is energizing..."-- Stephen Farber, Movieline's Hollywood Life
"...A lively, quirky, lyrically rambling meditation on life, death, and fate among the narcotically numbed-out....Unsparing in its depiction..."-- Glenn Kenny, Premiere
115783 
Email a Friend
