Jesus' Son (1999)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Alison Maclean

Writers:

Denis Johnson (book)
Elizabeth Cuthrell (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 July 2000 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A young man turns from drug addiction and petty crime to a life redeemed by a discovery of compassion.

Plot Keywords:

Iowa | Drug Addiction | Mennonite | Drugs | Recovery

Awards:

4 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Billy Crudup	...	FH
Robert Michael Kelly	...	Salesman
Torben Brooks	...	Car Crash Driver
Dierdre Lewis	...	Driver's wife
Jimmy Moffit	...	Car Crash Doctor
Antoinette LaVecchia	...	Dead Man's Wife (as Antoinette Lavecchia)
Samantha Morton	...	Michelle
Steve Buck	...	Richard
Ben Shenkman	...	Tom
Scott Oster	...	Stan
Brooke Rachel Shive	...	Beatle (as Brooke Shive)
Mark Webber	...	Jack Hotel
John Ventimiglia	...	McInnes
Jesse Weaver Jr.	...	Carl
Michael Shannon	...	Dundun (as Mike Shannon)

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic drug use, strong language, sexuality and some violent images.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:R | France:U | Germany:12 | New Zealand:R18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bellmawr, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Evenstar Films

Trivia:

The movie's title comes from a line in the Lou Reed song "Heroin".

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: According to the director and screenwriter, many continuity mistakes were intentional. FH misremembers the stories each time he tells them and so there are intentional differences inserted when shots reappear in the film.

Quotes:

Patient at Beverly Home: There is a price to be paid for dreaming.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Comedy Central Roast of Denis Leary (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Sweet Desire

Heroin Chic with Humor and Heart

The latest in a growing trend of "Heroin is Bad But In Some Ways It's Great" films, "Jesus' Son" stands out with it's loopy, not-exactly-chronological first person narrative that pretty accurately reflects the mind of a junkie. Director Alison Maclean has some lovely and disturbing visuals here, in particular a scene where two junkies wander off a highway and into a field that could alternately be a graveyard or a drive-in movie. The script, based on a novel, stretches out as a series of vignettes surrounding the travels of lovable junkie known only as "F*ckhead" (Billy Crudup, in a performance that will dethrone DiCrappio as The Next Big Thing) whose first-person narrations offers some almost profound, ideot-savant wisdom.

A strong supporting cast includes Samantha Morton as F*ckhead's wild/tragic junkie girlfriend (Her scenes with Crudup play like "Sid and Nancy" with a little more heart), Denis Leary in his best role yet as a gruff, shaky-handed Cowboy Junkie, Dennis Hopper as a weary recovering addict, Greg Germann (from "Ally McBeal")as a hopelessly "limited" doctor, and Holly Hunter, who in a small part rises above the tongue-in-cheek camp surrounding her character's tragic story. And the true stand-out is Jack Black, the hefty young character actor who gets the most laughs as a drugged-out hospital orderly. His scenes in the hospital with Crudup are some of the most frightening, funny and bizarre scenes to appear on film so far this year.