Jesus' Son

Jesus' Son follows a young man known as FH through a chaotic stretch of his life in the early 1970s. Drifting from Iowa to Chicago and onward to Phoenix, he stumbles from one misadventure to the next, drinking and taking drugs while repeatedly trying, and usually failing, to help the people around him. His relationship with Michelle draws him into heroin use and a destructive dependency. Over time, and through encounters with a range of troubled strangers, he edges toward sobriety and a kind of redemption built on compassion rather than self-destruction.

The film is directed by Alison Maclean, whose only earlier feature is Talkback, released in 1987. The screenplay is by Oren Moverman, Elizabeth Cuthrell and David Urrutia, with Cuthrell and Urrutia producing alongside Lydia Dean Pilcher. Billy Crudup plays FH, with Samantha Morton as Michelle, Jack Black as Georgie, Denis Leary as Wayne, Dennis Hopper as Bill and Holly Hunter as Mira. Made for about 3 million dollars, it took in roughly 1 million worldwide, a modest return that suggests a limited theatrical reach.

On IMDb it holds 6.9 out of 10 from around 7,800 votes, while on TMDB its 6.2 from 78 votes reflects a much smaller sample. A critics' rating of 7.2 from 51 reviews places it somewhat above the audience scores, indicating a warmer response from reviewers than from general viewers.