TRAILER: Brought back to life by music and love

Jeff Bridges seems destined, undeservedly, to win the Academy Award as Best Actor In A Leading Role for his turn as a washed up country and western singer, who lives by the bottle.

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Written and directed by Scott Hooper, Crazy Heart is this year’s The Wrestler, following a self-destructive has-been on the slow and painful road to redemption.

The leading man’s portrayal of a drunkard, who vomits profusely before a concert at a bowling alley and has to rescue his fallen spectacles from the steaming mess, doesn’t earn our sympathy with ease.

Bridges’s character brings suffering upon himself and the people around him, and in one of the film’s pivotal sequences, he manages to lose a child in his care when he is tempted by the promise of a cheeky afternoon drink.

Yet through an unlikely romance, we are able to glimpse another side to this pitiful man, and will him to complete a stint in rehab.

Still touring rundown motels at 57, Bad Blake (Bridges) is a shadow of his former self.

Constantly inebriated, he is due to take to the makeshift stage, he strums and sings with bloodshot eyes to his loyal fans.

Before one performance, newspaper reporter Jean Craddock (Gyllenhaal) interviews Bad, and piques his interest.

Sexual chemistry between the pair is palpable but Jean is extremely wary of Bad, as she has a young son, Buddy (Nation), to protect.

The singer gets under her skin, and she opens her heart to the possibility of love, but she must compete with his love for Jack Daniels and the allure of a potential comeback with former protege Tommy Sweet (Farrell).

Bridges delivers a compelling performance as a talented songwriter who has almost supped away his talent, and he is matched by Gyllenhaal’s emotionally raw portrayal of a lonely woman, heading for heartache.

Thankfully, T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton’s original music is note-perfect, including the Oscar-nominated song The Weary Kind, that should take away the golden statuette on the night.