Jesus' Son (1999)

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

Director:

Alison Maclean

Writers:

Denis Johnson (book), Elizabeth Cuthrell (screenplay)

Stars:

Billy Crudup, Robert Michael Kelly, Torben Brooks

4 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
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)

Storyline

A gentle and usually mellow young man, who sometimes knows things before they happen and gets vibes of premonition, tell us his story: how he met Michelle in Iowa in 1971, how he got the name Fuckhead, how she introduced him to heroin and their falling in love, his thieving, his hospital work and their time in Chicago when she gets pregnant, detox, going to Phoenix to live, AA meetings and a dance, working at a care center where he learns to touch the residents, and modifying his daily schedule so that he passes a neighboring Mennonite household at the right time to hear the wife sing Gospel songs in the shower. Slowly, very slowly, FH lets his gifts emerge.

---

Plot Keywords:

watching tv | song | shower | love | hospital | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Lions Gate

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 July 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Az élet kalandja

Filming Locations:

Gibbstown, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$37,089, 18 June 2000, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,282,084, 20 August 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Evenstar Films,Jesus' Son Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Denis Johnson: As a man who has been stabbed in the eye by his wife.

---

Goofs

The film takes place in the early 1970s. Outside the motel there's a car with an old, battered "D.A.R.E." bumpersticker. But the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program was not founded until 1982.

---

Quotes

Nurse: What do you even do here?
Georgie: I save lives.

---

Connections

References Follow That Dream (1962)

---

Soundtracks

Airline to Heaven
Written by Woody Guthrie, Jay Bennett (as Bennett) & Jeff Tweedy (as Tweedy)
Performed by Wilco
Courtesy of Reprise Records
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Searching for Meaning

"Searching for Meaning" could be the title of the movie as well as of the reactions of many people who didn't want to see below the mixed-up surface of the film. The story is the random ramblings of a reformed drug addict looking for some meaning to life, death, and the difference between the two.

There are some interesting symbols: a man with Jesus' heart, a singing Menonite mermaid in a shower, drugs as an escape from the drug called life, etc. Not the average stuff of a mainstream movie which explains why this is an independent film.

We go along on an oddly comic journey during which we contemplate the price we pay for our dreams, explore the way we hide our deformities from the world, realize that we pretend to be normal because we want to be normal -- whatever normal is. We all want to find our place in a strange world where we have to consider the answers to the questions "Why did God make us?" and "Why did God make us the way we are?"

The solution to the riddles seems to be connecting with all our fellow riddlers, realizing that we'll understand someday what it all means.

This is a disturbing, funny, sad film -- not for everybody, but an interesting experience for people who don't mind thinking about what is being shown on the screen.