# Jesus' Son (1999)

### reviewed by
Akiva Gottlieb

    Jesus' Son **1/2
    Rated R
    109 minutes
    Lions Gate Films
    starring Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Denis Leary,
    Jack Black, Will Patton, Greg Germann, Holly Hunter,
    Dennis Hopper
    based on the book by Denis Johnson
    written by Elizabeth Cuthrell, Oren Moverman and David
    Urrutia
    directed by Alison Maclean

    A Review by Akiva Gottlieb

In Alison Maclean's `Jesus' Son', the audience is provided with a narrator who sounds drunk, a disjointed plot that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, a handful of undeveloped lowlifes who are supposed to pass as characters, and some heavy-handed Christ imagery. However, by the end of the film, I hardly cared, because although `Jesus' Son' contains not an ounce of dramatic substance, Maclean's disjointed, careless style suits the `slacker' tale rather well.

The film is based on a series of semi-autobiographical, drug-induced short stories written by cult favorite Denis Johnson. `Jesus' Son' tells of the random misadventures of a 1970's heroin addict named Fuck Head (Billy Crudup). Our narrator, whom we first encounter on a dark highway, is FH himself, who tells his story in a non-linear manner; often forgetting and remembering, clarifying and commenting. The tactic, which is meant to be either humorous or interesting, comes off instead as annoying.

FH doesn't lead a terribly important life. Our information about him is limited: he is a junkie, his girlfriend Michelle (Samantha Morton) is a junkie, and his friends (Denis Leary, Jack Black) are, you guessed it…junkies. No background, no goals, nothing but drugs and booze. It's not hard to imagine how that kind of lifestyle can alienate a man. Indeed, FH lives a life of cloudy alienation; a life in which the boundary between a vision and a hallucination is a thin line.

And, of course, `Jesus' Son' fits into the genre of the tried and true `let's get sober' cautionary tale, somewhere along the lines of `Drugstore Cowboy'. But, after a dreadfully poor opening act, the film settles down to find its own quirky charm. One especially entertaining episode involves FH's night out with a pill-popping peer played by the multi-talented Jack Black (`High Fidelity').

With an eclectic soundtrack of 70's rock hits, some `far out' hallucination sequences, and a cameo by Dennis Hopper, pioneer of another drug culture, `Jesus' Son' gets an A for style. It's too bad, then, that the film is so shallow, because, with a bit of substance, this could have been a cult classic. `Jesus' Son' shows us how the characters use drugs, but never tells us why.

Alison Maclean (`Crush') directs this film with a unique visual flair, shooting the more intimate sequences on digital video. She shows a lot of promise. It is the screenplay, written by three people, that ruins a potentially strong picture. The script never treats FH like a person, even if the camera does. `Jesus' Son' is at times remarkably atmospheric, and at other times remarkably bad. For the most part, `Jesus' doesn't deserve your faith.

    Akiva Gottlieb
    critical66@yahoo.com
    http://pictureshow.8m.com

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