How many mistakes can a person make and still find redemption? In Jesus’ Son, the character played by Billy Crudup is an excellent test case. He goofs up so much his friends call him "FH," which is short for an unprintable nickname. During a series of bizarre adventures in the 1970s, he uses drugs, steals, and fails when trying to help the people around him. And yet, there’s something so oddly compelling about FH that I wanted to take him home and mother him.

Crudup, who won the Best Actor Award for Jesus’ Son at this year’s Paris Film Festival, is simply amazing in this movie. Whether portraying a modern-day cowboy (Hi-Lo Country) or a famous runner (Prefontaine in Without Limits), the versatile star seems to transform himself into that character with every fiber of his being. In Jesus’ Son, Crudup brings FH to life by delivering a richly-textured performance filled with pathos, humor, and emotional depth. Fortunately, Crudup’s FH in no way glamorizes drug use. His portrayal does just the opposite by illustrating the misery caused by substance abuse.

"I hope people will respond to Jesus’ Son the same way I did," Crudup told me after a screening in Telluride. "It unlocked my imagination and made me open up to the world. Through a slow accumulation of events, FH just finds himself alive and well, and there’s real beauty in looking at something real simple like that."

While there is beauty in the film’s spiritual theme, the ugliness of a life on drugs comes through loud and clear in Jesus’ Son. FH and his co-addict girl friend (Samantha Morton, Oscar-nominee for Sweet and Lowdown) look filthy and unkempt --- even in their most romantic moments. As the film’s narrator, FH describes a car crash he may have foreseen but couldn’t stop. Where FH is concerned, it’s difficult to tell what is real from what might be a drug-related hallucination. He claims to "know every raindrop by name" and is troubled by such weird visions as a bloody beating heart and a bare-breasted woman flying through space. The film’s other disturbing sequences involve an ex-husband (Denis Leary) out for revenge, a graphic drug-overdose death, and the removal of a knife from a man’s eye.

In contrast, Oscar-winner Holly Hunter (The Piano) brightens things up in a small role as a woman, undaunted by lots of bad luck, who helps FH on the road to recovery. While watching Hunter’s character tell her sad story without one bit of whining, I found myself thinking, "Here is a master at work." Another actress might have been tempted to go over the top, but Hunter projects a winning down-to-earth quality in this key scene. Supporting actor Jack Black (High Fidelity) also stands out as a drug-crazed hospital orderly. The wilder he gets, the funnier he is. And former Easy Rider Dennis Hopper evokes sympathy as a man who has been shot in the face by his wife.

So what if Jesus’ Son is a bit disjointed in parts? FH is disjointed too. In the end, compassion, hope, and sobriety triumph as he finds redemption through work at a nursing home. Director Alison Maclean (Crush) gave the film an appealing surrealistic style throughout, and the script offered enough surprises to keep me wondering what would happen next. Screenwriters Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia, and Oren Moverman deserve kudos for their intelligent adaptation of Denis Johnson’s acclaimed short story collection.

Jesus’ Son is a vivid reminder that the 1970s were not "the good old days," especially for people like FH. Too many lives were ruined or lost by participation in the drug culture. Still, even thirty years later, one can’t help wondering if things have changed very much where substance abuse is concerned. That’s what makes this stunning film so timely.

(Released by Lions Gate Films and rated "R" for graphic drug use, strong language, sexuality, and some violent images.)