Jesus’ Son

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: D     Film: B-

 

 

Alison MacLean has a truly controversial film title in her 1999 film Jesus’ Son, but the film is not as provocative, though it still earns its R-rating for drug use and honest sexuality.  The film takes place in the early 1970s, as drifter ‘FH” (Billy Crudup) leads an unstructured existence that leads him into multiple sex partners and the use of far too many recreational drugs.

 

A girlfriend (Samantha Morton) would offer some hope, if only she were not as unstable as he is.  His drug needs lead him to employment at a hospital, with a fellow worker (Jack Black) who is a bit more of kilter than he.  He does not hold that job for long, but then he never stays anywhere once for long.  All that flightiness could be disaster for any kind of narrative structure, and this is no French New wave film, but there are other things that hold the film together.

 

One is the less effective quasi-comedy of drug-usage misadventures, which turn the cast into caricatures too often, but despite screenplay trouble, MacLean just cannot stop focusing on Crudup.  Based on the lighting and camerawork by Adam Kimmel, the kind of vulnerable, passive character he plays, and how she has him play it with his feminine side occurrently emphasized, it is fair to say she likes her lead actor.

 

There is nothing necessarily wrong with that, and it actually helps save the film, because it is something only an auteur-level filmmaker could pull off.  Whatever the motivation, she is on the right track in being able to put her vision on the screen.  That the character has many delusional visions of his own is ironic.

 

To further support this, here is the interesting choices of period songs MacLean settles on to enhance her star and storyline:  Tommy Roe’s Sweat Pea, Barbara Mason’s Yes, I’m Ready, Paul Revere & The Raiders’ Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian), The McCoy’s Hang On Sloopy, Dorothy Moore’s Misty Blue and even Barry Sadler’s The Ballad of the Green Beret.  This is a smart, wise and exceptional set, not even including all of the songs in the film.  However, it is meant to reflect a kind of sensitive man that existed then, than MacLean may be missing very badly.  Crudup is on the money, and even when the budget cannot always make it feel like 1973, these other elements more than make up for it.

 

For all the bad films that think they are about the 1970s, here is one of the few successes that will hold up ten years form now, even if the other problems get in the way.  As for if MacLean or screenplay co-writers think drugs are the only way a man can become sensitive, it is neither implied nor denied.  The result is another unnecessary distraction the film could have done without.  Denis Leary, Will Patton, Dennis Hopper, and Holly Hunter also star.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image does some justice to Kimmel’s camerawork, but the transfer still somehow falls short.  Definition falls short, and color has some microshifting from the transfer simply not being able to handle a tightly presented scope image.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not bad, with dialogue and the key music sounding clear enough, but it is not spectacular and this is still a dialogue-driven film.  Randall Poster supervised the music and deserves special note here for it.  There are no extras.

 

The film has just enough good moments that everyone should see it at least once just to see what was achieved here.  It is also a nice step forward for women directors that cannot be ignored.  The camera, no matter who is handling it, likes Crudup, making it all the more amazing he is not a bigger star by now.  When that happens, Jesus’ Son will be among the films people will talk about.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo