Rating: 
Summary: Buckets Of Tears
Review: I realize I'm a very emotional person, but this movie had me sobbing buckets. Great casting! Liv Tyler is amazing, but Pruitt Taylor Vince was especially excellent. With very few lines, his expressive eyes and overall sad composure was heartbreaking. Music fans will love seeing Debbie Harry as an obnoxious, bitter waitress and Lemonhead Evan Dando as a controlling boyfriend. You really feel for this overweight man. Seeing how difficult each day is and his inner struggle to win Liv Tyler's love is so real. A must-have for any emotional Indie movie lover.
Rating:
Summary: blown away
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: It touched me
Review: Life like and far mind provoking version of forrest gump. Currently my favourite films. The last scene is ingenious and offers hope. Brilliant acting throughout especially victor (Pruitt Taylor Vince).
Rating:
Summary: It touched me
Review: Life like and far mind provoking version of forrest gump. Currently my favourite films. The last scene is ingenious and offers hope. Brilliant acting throughout especially victor (Pruitt Taylor Vince).
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful. Expresses "quiet desperation" but with hope.
Review: Low-key and slow pace does not detract from this film. This film is *about* how slow and dreary some lives are. Hopeless, afraid of change--that's what almost all these characters have in common. The ray of sunshine comes with Liv Tyler, a young girl with some hope and light still left in her. She's in danger of letting it be squelched, though, and Vince, the overweight chef she befriends, sees this in her. His "visions" of her drowning symbolize his concerns for her--he fears she may drown in the same sea of hopelessness that he (and all around him) already have succumbed to. The recurring theme of planes flying overheard symbolize hope--going somewhere else, doing something else, getting out of the quagmire of hopelessness that seems to be their destiny. The actor who plays Vince is absolutely fantastic. He embodies "quiet desperation", and our hearts go out to him. And yet at the end, there is hope for Vince. This hope is understated, but there. And we rejoice in it.
Rating:
Summary: Something New
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Heavy for sure...
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Emotionally devastating
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: We've all stood in Victor's shoes...
Review: This is a great movie about a "heavy" guy named Victor, and the pain and agony he goes thru just in day to day living. Whether it's a weight problem, a balding problem, whatever makes you feel insecure about yourself, I think almost everyone can relate to his pain of being stuck inside himself. He wants to reach out desperately but the fear of rejection holds him back. The actor conveys so much emotion without words, you can almost feel it thru the screen.
Victor enjoys some companionship for a short while with a guy he meets in the hospital cafeteria. The guy kinda tells him (my paraphrase :-) ), "I have baggage too, we all have baggage. We're all a lot a like."
This is a down-to-earth kind of movie with people we can relate to. Like someone else said, this is not the 'Typical Hollywood formula movie." Amen.
Rating:
Summary: Shelly Winters is Alive in 1995?
Review: 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.
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