Customer Reviews

Chrystal

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This story is so much about the setting, in the Ozark Mountains, where growing pot is one of the few ways to make enough money to keep your land, where men drink and drive as long as they avoid the downtown area, where rednecks clear out the fish fry for a fight in the parking lot, and where a bluegrass jamboree is a way to while away a humid evening. The scenery is beautiful, but everyone's isolation is tragic. The bar fight is one of the best scenes, with no professional moves, just a heck of a lot of slapping, kicking, and stumbling. There is nothing suave about the bar fight. The realism was beautiful, especially as Thornton's character let his arch enemy get a riled up while Thornton himself remained steady.

The movie starts out slow, but the action in the middle is powerful, and the ending is a sucker punch to the gut. The characters are vivid and true. This is a haunting tale about loss, guilt, and redemption.

This movie is kind of similar to Undertow and Monster's Ball. It deals with violence, crime, tragedy, forgiveness, redemption, and reconcilation. It's a great vehicle to showcase the relatively unknown Lisa Blount who managed to upstaged the rather low-key Billy Bob Thorton. Blount plays the title character who was traumatized and physically damaged by the car accident that took the life of her little boy. Her husband Joe(Thorton) was to blame for the tragedy, because he was smuggling drug in the car, and ended sentenced to prison for twenty years.

During the time when Joe was absent, Chrystal lives alone with her dog Precise in an isolated farm, and she occasionally offers herself sexually to the local boys. She's constantly haunted by the death of her son, and still angry at Joe when he came home. They no longer connect emotionally and sexually. At one point, Joe ask her," Am I still your husband?" She responded angrily and said,"If you just want my P****, just come and get it....". He's trying to seek her forgiveness and start over again, but the worst thing was that she can no longer have children.

The local marajuana dealer named Snake(Ray McKinnon, director and writer of this film) tried to persuade Joe to grow marajuana on his farm, but he declined, and things get nasty and physical between the two. Meanwhile, a travelling blind musicologist named Kalid is in town to gather research for his book, and becomes friend with Chrystal who used to be a good singer. This subplot allowed the film to feature many beautiful songs that resembles Songcatcher and some of the Bluegrass music featured in You Can Count On Me. Things gets even more ugly when Snake and his gang chased Chrystal and Kalid into the woods and want to gang rape her. Fortunately, Joe was hiding in the woods and rescued them. Will Chrystal be able to reconcile with Joe and let go of the the shadows of the past?

Overall, the performances are very good, and the actors delivered their lines with impressive southern accent. This film is obviously very low budget, one would wonder how they could get Billy Bob Thorton to be in it. I loved the soundtrack, and I also was quite touched by Lisa Blount's performance, despite not having seen her previous works.

I admit, I rented this DVD because I am a Billy-Bob fan, but I watched the whole rather slow moving story because I was immediately grabbed by the music. I have read the above reviews and agree with the positive ones so I won't repeat what they said. I only want to add that the (local) music is haunting and hypnotic, a good representation of that 'high lonesome' mountain sound that graces "O brother..."and "the songcatcher". If there were a soundtrack I would buy it.

Oscar Winner Billy Bob Thornton (Best Adapted Screenplay, Sling Blade) gives one of his best performances in "Chrystal" a massively overlooked and under rated movie that captures the southern atmosphere and elivers a compelling and sometimes funny movie. Thornton plays Joe, who sixteen years before drove his wife Chrystal (Lisa Blount) and their young boy off a cliff. Joe came out of the wreck fine and went on to serve a 16 year prison term. Chrystal is mentally unstable and has become, virtually, the town hooker. The little boy was never found, not a trace. When Joe is released from prison, he returns to the home he shared with Chrystal and begins staying on the porch and reuniting with some old friends. Chrystal, meanwhile, befriends a blind writer named Kalid (Harry Lennix, of The Matrix films). Now, even though Thornton is spectacular; Blount makes the kind of first impression actresses like Amy Adams did in "Junebug". She really overshadows all of the other actors who are much better known then herself. She plays the deeply disturbed Chrystal to a T. I'm surprised she didn't nab an Oscar nomination. I'm not sure why this film was so "under the radar" because it truly is a marvelous film. There are times when the film stumbles a bit and the character Snake (who I was surprised to find was played by writer/director Ray McKinnon) overstayed his welcome but if you are in a video store you should really rent this movie.

GRADE: A-

It is rare to come across films as unique and fine tuned as CHRYSTAL, even more so when the only recognizable feature is the big name star on the film's cover. But in this first cinematic outing by the enormously gifted Ray McKinnon there are so many sparks of greatness that they dwell on the screen like glowing embers until the collective heat explodes into a impressive fire of creative skill.

Ray McKinnon both wrote and directed this film and also plays one of the key characters (in an award-deserving performance for supporting actor!). His method of telling a story is as slow and gradual as a festering abscess and he makes his audience stay alert until all of the dots are gradually joined to reveal the whole picture: that takes writing and directing guts in a time when audiences want to be spoon fed linear plots summarized in a sentence. McKinnon's courage (and budgetary constraints) made him cast his film with mostly unknown actors, each of whom performs like seasoned veterans. How much of that is due to the presence of such fine talent as Billy Bob Thornton, Harry Dean Stanton, and Lisa Blount is up for speculation, but it is McKinnon's sure hand both in writing and in directing that makes this little film so pungent and memorable.

Joe (Billy Bob Thornton - in a brilliantly understated performance) returns to a little trashy town in Arkansas in mid Ozarks after a 20 year prison time for drugs, DUI, and attempts to escape: his imprisonment began after a car crash that killed his young son and left his wife Chrystal (Lisa Blount, an actress of tremendous depth) with a broken neck and a broken spirit and soul, living in squalor and providing sex for all of the men and boys of the area. Chrystal is a used, spent, fragile creature, in constant pain from her neck fracture and living like a walking emotional zombie. Joe returns, and without much dialogue cleans the yard and house and land and ensconces himself on the porch of their house, tended only by Chrystal's confused old dog.

Word gets around that Joe, known for his growing of high caliber marijuana before incarceration, has returned and the local smarmy drug king Snake (Ray McKinnon) and his pals attempt to draw Joe back into a life of crime. Joe aches for redemption for his past mistakes, longs to retrieve his marriage with the severely emotionally damaged Chrystal, and is willing to fight to protect his new life. Gruesome encounters with Snake and with the townsfolk ensue. With all of the myriad pieces of this story finally woven into an amazing quilt, Joe and Chrystal come as close to redemption as is feasible.

The story is so much more layered than this too brief synopsis, but revealing more would deprive the viewer of the heady work and rewards of staying with this stunning film. The musical score is spare but eminently appropriate, combining Bruce Springsteen records with original music by Stephen Trask and some haunting Ozark tunes sung by Lisa Blount, Harry Dean Stanton (as Pa Da) and others. The setting is atmospheric and the cinematography by Adam Kimmel captures McKinnon's story's mood impeccably. The cast is some of the finest ensemble acting seen in years, especially in view of the fact that most of the actors have little screen experience.

Sounds like a rave review? Well, it is. This is one extraordinary piece of work and just like the not dissimilar Faulkner novels it takes work, but the payoff is equally satisfying. Highly Recommended - for viewing, for the afterburn of the experience, and for votes for just awards! Grady Harp, September 05

Rated 4.0 at IMDb.

Grossed $80,000.

I figured it must suck mightily, right? I almost passed on it entirely when I collected the new releases from Blockbuster this week, but I broke down and rented when I saw that it was rated R for, among other reasons, nudity. Best decision I've made in a long time.

The official publicity spin says, "Set in the Ozark mountains, Chrystal combines red-dirt realism with the fabulist Southern literary tradition - part Flannery O'Connor, part Johnny Cash - to tell a wild and haunting tale of the power of true love." I think this may represent the first time I've ever agreed with one of those official blurbs. That sentence sums it up beautifully.

Chrystal is a story about a man who made a great mistake when he was young. He landed in prison when his own criminal activity caused a car accident that killed his son and left his wife partly paralyzed. Returning to his Ozark home as a middle-aged man, he does his best to attain redemption, sometimes failing, but also succeeding in about equal measure.

Let me cut to the chase on this one and say that it is a helluva movie. Set among the improverished rurals of Arkansas, it manages to portray their lives with humanity and compassion, yet without condescension. Unlike most Hollywood movies, it manages to tell a central story that is heartbreaking without being phony or syrupy, and without resorting to obviously manipulative musical cues. The background stories are sometimes more interesting than the main plot, and can be very funny, because the unaffected characters react to events in natural ways. Here's an example. When a women tells her daughter solemnly that the family patriarch, apparently succumbing to senile dementia, was caught stealing a dress from a clothesline and wearing it, the daughter thinks a second, furrows her forehead in concern, and asks, "how'd he look?" Mother and daughter erupt in tension-relieving laughter. There is humor, but the writing can also be delicate and poetic, yet also gritty and realistic when required, following the tradition of the best Southern gothic writers. Hell, this is the screenplay Faulkner should have written when he was jerking off in Hollywood. The last act does include some unwelcome contrivances, but by that point, much like Magnolia, it had earned the right to jump into the deep end.

Ray McKinnon, the writer and director of this film, is a character actor in his forties who had never before directed a feature film. Hadn't written one either. I have a feeling that he'll get to make a few more movies before his career is over, because he didn't make many missteps in this film. His direction was as good as his writing, so good that it's impossible to believe him a rookie. I paid attention to his storyboarding, what he was doing with camera movement, when he was choosing to change the focal point of a scene, how he backed up the story with the musical soundtrack, when he chose silence over music, his control of the cinematography, his use of the local culture for background, and so forth. By God, I don't know if Atom Egoyan or Jean-Pierre Jeunet could have done this much better with this budget! McKinnon may have made a couple of rookie mistakes here and there, but I'll just tell you right now that this sumbitch has it. He just flat-out has it.

Of course, it didn't hurt his story about Arkansas that he happens to be married to a good actress from Arkansas (Lisa Blount), and it surely didn't hurt his little redneck drama that his lead actor is the king of all the redneck actors, Billy Bob Thornton. (Kudos to Billy Bob for doing this. It must have been a labor of love because he couldn't have drawn much of a paycheck, and he turned in a good dramatic performance.) And it didn't hurt at all that McKinnon was able to play the antagonist himself, because he's a damned good character actor. Oh, I know you don't know his name, but you'd recognize him. Most recently, you may have seen his tall, thin frame wandering through the streets of "Deadwood," playing the naive and slightly dotty preacher in season one of that series.

Of course, it is a quiet, slow, literary, heartbreaking, and almost arty redneck film, so the potential audience is not large at all. But if a piece of Southern fabulist lit sounds like the topping for your personal pecan pie, you should go for this.

Chrystal is the story of Joe, played by Billy Bob Thornton, a southern man who returns home after 20 years in jail for recklessly evading the police, growing pot and a manslaughter charge for the death of his son.

At home, Joe finds he's not really sure why he returned. His wife is somewhat crazy and sleeping around. The death of their son still haunts the both of them.

Without giving away any spoilers, Chrystal is a well made film with tremendous acting all around. Lisa Blount is amazing as Chrystal, and of course Billy Bob is his always wonderful self. The rest of the cast is convincing and well cast.

The setting is unique and memorable. You will not soon forget this backwoods Arkansas tale.

While I enjoyed the film, there was a few flaws. I didn't find myself as concerned with what happened to the main characters. Chrystal's relationships with Kalis (Harry Lennix) and Charlie (James Intveld) were at times awkward, and the scenes where these characters interacted almost seemed out of place. The last 30 minutes of the movie bring about a certain unbelievability, as villains wait a very long time for revenge, Billy Bob steals a baby after living in the woods for over a year, and Billy Bob is hunted by police for silly reasons. (one being the protection of his wife)

All in all I say don't miss seeing the film, but also note that it isn't to heart wrenching that you will find yourself wanting to own it and see it again. It is no Slingblade.

Total Score (out of 100) = 77

37 (out of 50). Enjoyment. A rating based on my overall enjoyment of the film.
10 (out of 10). Acting. How good was the acting?
9 (out of 10). Immersion. Did the movie suck me into the story?
10 (out of 10). Intangibles. Special effects. Movie pace. Is the movie forgettable, or something you will talk about and remember for weeks? Years?
7 (out of 10). Must see. Is this movie worth seeing/renting?
2 (out of 10). Must buy. Is this movie a must buy/purchase?

Chrystal paints a portrait of the anguish and endless heartache a couple experiences after a tragic car accident take the life of their young son and leaves the woman with a broken neck and soul. The cinematography is excellent; and I like that they filmed this in Arkansas where the plot does take place. The choreography works wonders for the fights scenes and other scenes including the one in which Chrystal (Lisa Blount) sings a beautiful song called "Rockin' Chair." The plot moves along at a fairly good pace although they could have edited out a little bit here and there to tighten things up and make it a bit more dynamic; but the acting is superb and very convincing.

When the movie starts, we see a flashback of that fateful night when Joe (Billy Bob Thornton) and his wife Chrystal (Lisa Blount) are going somewhere in their car with their young son almost twenty years ago. Joe is drunk and there is a horrible accident which takes the life of their young son whose remains were never even found; Joe also winds up in prison for drugs dealing, DUI and more than one attempt to escape. Chrystal remains so heartbroken and fragile after the crash that her life as a single woman waiting for Joe to return takes quite a downward spiral as she slowly but surely turns into a woman who provides "comfort" for just about any guy who wants time alone with a woman; and the physical pain from her old neck injury isn't helping her, either.

But one day Joe returns home; he and Chrystal must deal with quite a dilemma. Are they still husband and wife? Are they still in love with each other? Who is to blame, if anyone, for that car crash so many years ago? The answers are far from easy and it's quite a treat to see Billy Bob Thornton and Lisa Blount play out their roles with such polish.

Look also for a great performance by Ray McKinnon as the rather unlikable "Snake" who is the drug warlord of the redneck little town in which they all live--he's got quite a bone to pick with Joe, too. Harry Lennix plays Kalid, a blind African-American musicologist who helps Chrystal in his own way and Grace Zabriskie does a fine job playing Gladys, Chrystal's mother who isn't exactly too fond of Joe.

The DVD does not come with any extras unless you count a plug or two for other movies on DVD; and I don't count that as an extra. That's a disappointment; I would have loved a commentary or at least some deleted scenes. Not good!

Overall, Chrystal is a very good film that tells quite a story and it isn't always too pretty; this movie deals with some rough stuff indeed! If you're interested in films that deal with redemption, life in rural America and fragile people trying so hard to live with their scars, this would be a good movie for you to get. I give it four stars instead of five primarily because the plot is just a bit too slow bit here and there; and the lack of any extra bonus features is a disappointment.

I Love this movie, and the music / soundtrack!

Joe (Billy Bob Thornton) returns home after 20 years in jail for recklessly crashing his car during a police chase - resulting in the death of his 2 year old son, and the permanent physical / mental injury of his wife Chrystal (Lisa Blount).

Billy Bob Thorton's character never gets over the pain of losing his life in jail for 20 years, the death of his son, or the loss of time with his wife. Never being an evil person, Joe returns home with the hope that he can rekindle his life with his wife.

Unfortunately - agony and injury have been unkind to Chrystal, and she seems to have lost "feelings" of any kind as demonstrated by her uncaring means to survive through prostitution with the "locals". Chrystal still maintains a latent beauty, however, she is emtionally bankrupt.

Even worse, both Joe and Chrystal agonize over the loss of their son - who was never found at the car crash site, and each claim to have seen images of him throughout the last 20 years.

Can one survive after such a horrible sequence of events? Billy Bob Thorton and Lisa Blunt do a great job in demonstrating the agony of trying to recover....

Favorite Quote of the movie is "We Got Us a Redneck FightClub" yelled out when Billy Bob Thorton gets in a fight.

This movie isn't all that great...but not bad, either. Sort of blah. It has all of the makings of a sincerely good film, but falls flat somewhere along the line. Billy Bob Thornton's acting isn't quite up to the usual standards, and the woman playing Chrystal does an excellent job - however, I believe more scenes from the past would have aided in this film's overall success. The scenery is beautiful, I believe it was filmed in Eureka Springs, Arkansas so that's very close to my own heart. In my opinion it was worth watching for the scenery alone.