The Last Movie I Saw

Some years back I saw a nice, unpretentious but touching film called Tender Mercies (directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Robert Duvall) about a down-on-his-luck drunk country singer-songwriter who is redeemed by the love of a good woman and her young son. Yesterday, I saw pretty much the same movie, only this time it was called Crazy Heart, directed by Scott Cooper and starring Jeff Bridges (with Duvall in a supporting role). Traditional country music certainly recycles the same basic themes over and over again (sort of reflected in the classic country song title "Heartaches by the Numbers"), but who would've guessed that movies about country music are subject to the same kind of ruts? I mean, there are similar elements in Honeysuckle Rose, Honkytonk Man, and even Coal Miner's Daughter. But that actually sounds harsher than I intend to be, because, besides the similarities in plot and theme, Crazy Heart also shares much of Tender Mercies' heart (which is also pretty evident in those other films too). There's a reason why these kinds of stories are told over and over again-- they capture a near universal desire to believe we can overcome adversity and reach our full potential, and I guess there's nothing wrong with that. And, if you have an actor the caliber of Jeff Bridges who can play out the highs and lows inherent in such a plot without ever striking a false or unbelievable note, then all the more reason to put that story up on the screen again. Bridges has been so consistently good for so long that I can't help pulling for him to win an Oscar for this performance, and it wouldn't be undeserved if he did, even if the film itself is ultimately rather lightweight. Sometimes it's just nice to hear or see something familiar but well-done.