Customer Reviews

Heavy

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are really only a few movies that attempt to portray realistic characters going about everyday life in all its ecstasy and agony, and even fewer that succeed in being genuine. Heavy is one of them, and on that score it probably gets my vote for the best film depiction of what unrequited love actually feels like. The level of emotional intensity that James Mangold achieves is blistering, as in the scene where Victor retreats to the storeroom and breaks up after the death of his mother, or the ending where Liv Tyler confronts him in the restaurant after he's smashed several dishes. Unlike other "realistic" indie films that concern a mismatched pair (I'm thinking of Garden State or the overrated Lost in Translation), the relationship between Victor and Callie is entirely believable- so much so that at times the film is almost painful to watch. This is due to the fact that the characters themselves ring true, and for this everyone from Pruitt Taylor Vince to Liv Tyler and Shelly Winters should be commended for their spot-on performances. James Mangold also manages to inject a little hope at the end without resorting to Hollywood cliches. It's difficult to find this movie, but I would certainly say it's worth seeking it out. Parts of it will stay in the back of your mind for years, as has happened with me.

The title doesn't merely point to the size of the central character, but also to the entire atmosphere of the film. I had to watch this movie a few times to fully appreciate its subtleness, yet I was intrigued even upon my first viewing.
While the central plot revolves around the "heavy" character, the story seems to more so be about Liv Tyler's character and her coming of age in a none-too-friendly environment. While her character does at times seem a bit too contrived and archetypical, you do find yourself nonetheless interested in her fate. In the same vein, you want to know the history of the Debbie Harry character. I was apalled and intrigued at the same time by her performance as a ... waitress. Excellant casting there.
i really appreciate the fact that the film makers never tried to make you feel TOO sorry for the title character. he is gross and close to being a stalker... yet you "get" him and his motivation. you almost root for him, until... I don't want to give too much away, but by the end you are truly asking, "what the...?!". I can't know why this character would behave as he did, but I am guessing that is the point of the film. Or at least I'd like to think so.
Watch the movie... maybe a couple times. It is worth the time and quite possibly a spirited conversation with your fellow viewers afterwards.

Despite some heavy handed camera work, this film shines. The acting by the lead character (Pruitt) was outstanding as was the other characters played by Liv Tyler, Deborah Harry and Shelly Winters. The story backdrop is a small nothing town and shows broken lives and failed chances. Enter Liv Tyler who appears in a bar applying for a job. Shelly Winters is the owner and mother of Pruitt - her overweight balding son with a roving eye but a good heart. The other waitress (Deborah Harry) is none too happy with the addition of a beautiful young woman. The resident drunk doesn't seem to care. Besides Liv Tyler's boyfriend, who we don't really see too much, this is it for characters and most of it takes place in the bar yet we barely notice as we are absorbed into the story that unfolds before us. Predictably, the son falls in love with the new waitress but he never takes a chance because he has already figured out how it would end. Yet the waitress' life isn't as golden as one would think. We see glimpses into each character's life and depressing doesn't begin to cover it. In spite of moments in each character's life that reflect a brillance, they are unable to see it for themselves. They are too caught up in the misery of their day-to-day existence and it would take too much effort to break free. At one point the son tries to change and we see hope for the first time burning in his eyes but it's built on lies and we see the consequences....... It's as if you give up on life, life pretty much passes you by and gives up on you - AND the results are there on screen serving as a warning. Either that or the filmmaker hates small towns and thinks you need to leave to get a better life. The whole mood of this movie is heavy but the sentiment and lush characterization made this movie worth it - repeat viewings even! A little gem of a movie which prompts me to look for later films by this director.

Something new under the sun: there's no formula to this picture. Each action and emotion logically follows the one before, instead of being contrived to fit into some form. This isn't hero-wants-girl, hero-loses-weight, hero-gets-girl, or the opposite, where the hero displays the fatal flaw which will hold him back all his life.

If you are used to the Hollywood formula, you won't know what's going to happen next, though by intuition, you will figure it out eventually, because these are real people; you know people like these-- unless you've lived in Levittown all your life, in which case you should see this film because you need the education.

Brilliant performances all around. I bought this video because I'm a Deborah Harry fan, and here she proves her natural acting skills once again. She is so good, it's difficult to remember that in her career, she has not been primarily an actress. Shelley Winters is great. Everyone is wonderful. The lead actor has very few lines, because he is a loner, but he is so good, he communicates without having to speak.

The film is slow-paced, but not plodding. I didn't notice time pass as I watched it. The beat is steady, and I was caught up in its rhythm. I couldn't stop watching, not to eat or let the dog out. This is a beautiful film.

This is terrific movie to own. It's practically a masterpiece of subtle and uspoken communication. Liv Tyler is luminously beautiful and Pruitt Taylor Vince is heartbreakingly great in a part that is so non-verbal that it's practically a silent film role. The movie proves that a film can be sweet without being cloying. The photography and music are perfect. Director James Mangold seems to have lost his way with his recent films, but this one is a gem.

i'd only rented this movie because thurston moore had written the score (which is awesome, by the way). i had no expectations going in. i hadn't heard of it, didn't know what it was about. and to me, casting liv tyler and deborah harry seemed like a gimmick. but i was truly blown away. the casting was brilliant, all around (and especially the dog -- the best performance by a dog ever, i think). strong performances, great music. i didn't think it was too slow-moving. the pace was right. the silence worked perfectly. i think it's about people who don't really matter and, i guess, are resigned to that. not sad so much as beautiful.

You might find yourself tapping your fingers with impatience with this slow motion character study, but if you stay with it you might find it indelible. Director and writer James Mangold is uncompromising in his determination that we live, breathe, feel and taste this man's loneliness, his isolation from others and his pitiful desire to find some beauty in his dreary life.

Pruitt Taylor Vince stars as a fat thirty-something who still lives with his mother and is the fry cook at her cafe/bar. I think he over acts at times, but perhaps that's what makes him so effective. He is painful to watch. Deborah Harry is entirely believable as the trampy waitress who's seen better days, and Shelley Winters is her natural self as the mother. Liv Tyler, daughter of Aerosmith rocker Steve Tyler, and seen a few years back with Alicia Silverstone in the "Crazy" music video, proves there's more to her than a beautiful figure.

The images, like still pieces from an art gallery, will stay with you: the breakfast left on the table for two weeks, the orange juice turning brown; the ugly little black and white dog: the Pete & Dolly's neon sign in red letters; the dirty dishes in the sink with the water dripping. They won't need subtitles for this one in foreign lands because not much is said. Mangold eschews dialogue for the camera.

Memorable are the breathe mints at the end of the runway and the visit to the Culinary Institute of America. The best line is Deborah Harry's sarcastic question (when Vince rejects her blatant seduction attempt): "Saving yourself for somebody special?"

This is a poignant film that takes place somewhere in upstate New York. Shelly Winters is on her last legs and she runs Pete & Dolly's, a roadside food and beer joint. Her slow-witted, overweight son, Victor is a terrific cook. The regulars are tired and drunk. The waitress is a loser with guys. Liv Tyler shows up in the glory of her youth and changes the stale dynamics. She immediately infatuates Victor.

James Mangold directs and some of his family members help out in this small production. The film and sound are fine and there's a professional look without glossy studio values. Another words, this is a fine independent film made for peanuts because a lot of people believed in the director's vision. Amazing these things ever get off the ground.

I did wonder about half way through the picture if Victor was going to do something yucky with sensitive Liv Tyler, but it's not that kind of picture. Victor doesn't exactly have sex with anyone. This film is a slice of fascinating life. It runs a little slow and possibly it was too long for most audiences. Hell. I didn't know Shelly Winter's was alive in 1995.

amazingly beautiful and well-directed. Director James Mangold lost his sense in his recent films but he does great in this movie. Not to mention, acting is all great.

This is an art film. No question. A true character study, "Heavy" is an encompassing, moody drudgery that unfolds like a once-beautiful wedding dress that has been kept in a box in the attic for twenty years. Deeply unsettling and dismal, the photography itself bears down on your soul with innocent, but disturbing images of a life without purpose. Squalor. Deborah Harry's performance as "Delores", a one-dimentional waitress at a small-town hash house called "Pete and Dolly's" is worth the watch of the entire film. The interaction between the cast members that takes place in the four walls of Pete and Dolly's down-home setting is very true-to-life by all accounts. We are all some of what these people are. That is why "Heavy" can be uncomfortable. You believe in these people that do not believe in themselves. In "Heavy", unsure and hesitant lives are played out flawlessly. Desperation is sharply and uncomfortably magnified.