Heavy (1996)

Not merely a description of corpulent character Pruitt Taylor Vince, the title refers to the leaden atmosphere hanging over a roadside café and its inhabitants. Writer-director James Mangold finds significance in the details of life, giving this touching story an authenticity that keeps us involved. Liv Tyler brings poignancy to the story as a college dropout who helps awaken the introverted and depressed Vince. Unfortunately, this fascinating character study is too often undermined by direction slow enough to be leaden. Happily, even the most stolid camera work cannot undermine the desires and insecurities of the main character, a man yearning for a full life but too afraid too take a chance. --Rochelle O'Gorman Amazon.com

quiet desperation...

Liked it. Low key and engaging. Holds your interest. Mangold's people are real, human, three dimensional,
and to this viewer, that pretty much sums up what most films lack. Why? Because most filmmakers are either shallow or just plain don't get it--or both.

Loved the cast, especially Liv Tyler.
My one and only gripe (if you can call it that) is that I just wish the Victor character could have summoned the courage (somehow) to snap out of his blues (that kept pulling him down and keeping him trapped there.)
Like I say, it's a minor beef. I liked the hell out of this "unassuming" tale and stayed with it every step of the way.

June 8, 2008

The finest "quiet" movie ever

Achingly powerful and vividly emotional film. The casting is perfect and the zen like moments of quiet make this the most emotional and quietly sadly satisfying movie I have ever seen. This is a movie of intense details. From the beautiful Callie, the sad/stuck dreamy Victor, to the bar and the wonderful little dog; all are pieces that fit together perfectly. The music is quiet and sets the emotional tone. This movie allows the viewer to be with the quiet and pain its characters hold. The tears in this movie are quiet, lonely and heart-breaking. There are a hundred recognizable moments of concentrated life here. Mangold is a genius with this one. Liv Tyler's performance and moment's with Victor are sublime. People will be watching and appreciating this movie 100 years from now. April 7, 2008

I am fat ma!

Watching Heavy only confirmed the idea that director James Mangold may be suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder. He needs medication or at least the ability to complete a thought before he tries to ramble us through another emotional sentence. Heavy could have been a very complete and emotional film using some raw talent that prior to this had never been explored. There could have been a very strong story developed behind Pruitt Taylor Vince's character of Victor instead of the inconsistent scenes that I witnessed. Liv Tyler could have honestly stepped up in the Hollywood atmosphere on this film alone, if she would have just attempted to take one small chance and go outside of herself. The same could be said for both Shelly Winters and Deborah Harry, who just never felt anything more creative than a walking cliché. Mangold had the power in his hands to really set the stage on fire, but instead we are forced to watch a very inconsistent, obscure, and emotionally voided film that tries to tackle too many issues, without solving any in the long run.

I initially envisioned Heavy's story line to be about a man, concerned about his weight, being the outcast member of society. At first, and at brief intermittent moments of the film, that was the case, but something changed as the other characters were introduced. Liv Tyler became a disturbing obsession instead of a passionate, yet simple, love for Victor. There are scenes in which Vince thinks that he sees a dead Callie walking through his house or even floating in a puddle, but alas, they are only daydreams. Why were they daydreams? What was the overall relevance of these scenes? Was it to show a different side, a troubled side, to Victor, or was it merely used to confuse the audience? I thought that perhaps she was representing Victor's mother, but even that was stretching a bit. It was moments like this that really brought a speed bump into this film. There were other scenes similar to this one that really pulled us away from the central focus of the film, the growth of Victor. The encounters with Leo seemed forced, and the clichéd and random sexual advances of Delores seemed to come out of left field. The moments between Victor and his mother didn't even feel real. I felt as if Shelly Winters was speaking from a cue card instead of her heart. There was one emotional scene where it felt as stale as cardboard, yet it was supposed to evoke tears. Pathetic. I felt at times that Mangold had one of those "Choose your own plot books" and just randomly flipped through it during this film.

Outside of random plot interjections coming at you from every angle (quite distractingly), there was some decent acting from our lead character Victor played by Pruitt Taylor Vince. Vince was able to bottle up the emotions of the situations around him very well, the twitching eyes was not something that I thought helped build his character (was that a acting trait or actually Vince's eyes), while the stress eating moments did seem very human. Vince is a strong actor. He is typically cast as the psycho in most films, but I thought in this film he did stretch his wings a bit. It wasn't far, but he brought compassion and emotion to a very forgettable character. He is the only one worth watching in this film, while the rest of the cast just hurt the film further. Liv Tyler has trouble acting. She talks about never taking an acting class before, and in this film you can tell. She brought nothing new to the screen. The connection between her and Vince was non-existent. There was no chemistry, no power, nothing that made me really see a love between the two. These two have a very silly match.

Outside of the acting and the zigzag plot, there was not much else going for the film. The music was a tease. There were some scenes where you would have Vince walking along the road, powerful, emotional, and together, and the music would suddenly change. Either it was poor editing or just bad music placement, but it seemed to be jumping just as much as Vince's eyes. It made me cringe in my seat. I just get extremely worked up about films that claim to be an emotional powerhouse of an independent film, yet it feels like crayons were used instead of the power of the paintbrush. Again, Mangold had a great film under the surface of all this muck, but it just wasn't worth wading through to get to.

Overall, I was not impressed with this film. If Mangold would have stayed the course, kept us glued to Vince's powerful character, and developed him using the other minor characters around him, than I think it would have been a winner. If Liv Tyler would have been a stronger central character and perhaps stepped outside of her lines, than we may have had a winner. If the point would have been to show a weak man overcome the boundaries of his life, than I think we would have had a winner. Instead, we are left with unattached moments that come from left field and walking cardboard characters that spit cliché lines into the sky instead of to the viewers. Heavy had so much potential, one can only blame Mangold for all these disasters. Skip it. Have yourself a big pizza and watch some Chris Farley films. Now, there was a big guy that was random, but could at least hold a script together!

Grade: ** out of ***** October 3, 2005

Emotionally devastating

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. January 7, 2005

poigant story that was well told

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. November 16, 2004

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