As Bad Blake says to his much younger paramour Jean Craddock while lying on her bed and picking a tune on his acoustic guitar, the best songs are the ones you’re sure you’ve heard before. So it is with Scott Cooper’s first directorial effort, Crazy Heart . There’s little new in the tale of this grizzled, bourbon-soaked country singer scuffling after long-sought success, often despite himself. But sometimes an older singer’s voice can often no longer distinguish itself so much with its overall quality as in its ability to squeeze a great deal of feeling out of a particular note. Crazy Love is a tune we’ve heard before, but many of its notes ring resonant and true. Certain older performers, whether through age itself, hard living, or a toll-taking combination thereof, assume an almost elemental appearance. Jeff Bridges’ Bad Blake, face deeply ravined, sunglasses over the rings and wrinkles about the pale fire of his blue-grey eyes, a snowy growth of beard over weakening chin, ...