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Jesus' Son
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by Universal Studios
Sales Rank: 25433
Price: $14.98
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Fans of the short stories in Denis Johnson's <I>Jesus' Son</I> will wonder how anyone could film a book so beautifully, radiantly, defiantly strange. The good news is that Alison Maclean's film version is more than just faithful to the book's spirit: It's the closest thing to a visual equivalent of Johnson's visionary prose. As a series of vignettes in the life of an unnamed Midwestern junkie-slash-holy fool, the stories are linked more through imagery than through anything so linear as a plot. Maclean preserves this episodic structure but adds just enough narrative glue to make the whole thing hang together as a film. (And wisely so; if she hadn't, there'd have been no role at all for Samantha Morton, brilliant here as Michelle, the narrator's girlfriend.) With a hero called Fuckhead, you know this isn't going to be entertainment for the whole family, and some of the scenes of drug use and associated gore are grim indeed. But the movie <I>looks</I> just right, and some of its images are so beautiful it hurts: old movies playing in an empty drive-in, snow swirling all around; a naked woman parasailing through the sky with her long red hair streaming behind.<P>Maclean also coaxes wonderful performances from a dream-indie cast, including Morton, the magnetic Billy Crudup as Fuckhead, Dennis Hopper, Holly Hunter, an uncharacteristically understated Denis Leary, and even, in a gruesome cameo, Denis Johnson himself. (Hint: Look for the knife. Then look away quickly.) Once again, Jack Black hijacks every frame in which he appears, and his turn as a pill-popping orderly gives new meaning to the phrase "I save lives." Things drag a little during the last half-hour, but squirm not: Following Fuckhead through rehab and beyond, the book's closing scenes are genuinely redemptive without hitting the audience over the head with a "lesson" of any kind. <I>Jesus' Son</I> is Maclean's first feature film since 1992's <I>Crush</I>; let's hope she won't make us wait as long before the next fix. <I>--Mary Park</I>
Viewer Reviews
"All these . . . weirdos, and me . . . getting a little better every day right in the middle of 'em. I had never known . . . I had never even imagined for a heartbeat that . . . there might be a place in the world for people like us." --"FH"
Titled after Lou Reed's song, "Heroin," there is a reason Jesus' Son was considered one of the top ten films of 1999 by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Roger Ebert. Adapted from a Denis Johnson's visionary collection of short stories of the same name (Jesus' Son), this 1999 film stars Billy Crudup (Almost Famous) as "F***head," a drifter, and Samantha Morton as Michelle, the junkie lover who first introduced FH to heroin in the early 70s. The film follows FH's journey from a life of drug addiction, petty crime, detox, and AA meetings, to a life of compassion working at an assisted living facility housing troubled souls like him. Ultimately, Jesus' Son is an radiant redemption story of mesmerizing scenes. The film left me exhilarated and speechless. Jesus' Son also features an outstanding supporting cast including Holly Hunter, Dennis Hopper, Denis Leary, Will Patton, John Ventimiglia, and Jack Black. Highly recommended.
G. Merritt
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Jesus' Son
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