Hesher

OK , first of all i must admit i am not the type that likes deep drama arty farty movies so i expected not much from this but you never know when you get to watch another Dancer in the Dark or Trainspotting and the music looked tempting so i gave it a shot.

If you want to know what the movie is about read the other reviews , they cover it way better than i ever could but i simply had to write something here to let the world know this is worth the effort.

Funny , gritty , painful with a storyline that reminded me of Charles Bukowski. As a metalhead i of course liked the movie and Hesher reminds me of some of my mates. Bit rough on the edges but real and good people . Finally a writer who looks past the clichés of metal morons. Of course the brilliant acting helps a lot . I admit you have to work at the movie but it sure is worth it in the end . Go watch this movie , i assure you it will make you laugh and it will make you think and don't we wish we had more of those flicks to see

Hesher is an interesting movie with a surprisingly upbeat, positive, and warm message at it's core. Hesher himself, while aptly acted, is a vulgar, heavy metal, chaotic, force of seeming destruction. He is essentially a plot device created to facilitate emotional growth and change in the lives around him. Some people will clearly A) Be entirely too dense to grasp this concept, B) Judge it entirely on it's vulgarity, thus ignoring it's message, or C) Understand it and appreciate it for what it is.

Whereas some movies rely on overly positive, loving, compassionate, understanding, and patient characters to get it's point across, "Hesher" doesn't just deviate from that...it takes a huge steamy dump on it. It's a symbol that not everyone needs group therapy to get over a personal crisis. That your world won't end without some prophetic angelic figure gracing you with it's presence. Instead, it shows you the depths of anger and chaos. It shows you that you really CAN just...do it. Whether "it" is getting out of bed and choosing to start life anew, or to trash a backyard and set a swimming pool on fire. The emphasis is that if you just ignore the consequences, perceived or literal, at least you DID SOMETHING. To me that is a fantastic message, regardless of how abstract or vulgar it's portrayed.

As to the movie itself, Hesher was played amazingly well. Joseph Gordon-Levitt played the character straight without it feeling cliché. You never quite know what his character will do, be it a seemingly offensive yet benign act that sets off a series of reactions that result in a positive conclusion, or setting a car on fire. It could be throwing explosives out a window, or helpfully picking up broken dish ware off the carpet. T.J. (Devin Brochu) nails the feeling of "angst", and has some pretty awesome rage moments you normally don't see from child actors. The father (Rainn Wilson) does a fair job as a broken down, depressed father, who's completely at a loss as to what to do and is so consumed by his own depression he ignores his child. It's similar to his character in "Super", not his best performance, but well performed. The grandmother "Piper Laurie" is very pleasant as a loving, kind, gentle figure. As for Natalie Portman's character, she seemed more of an inclusion just to further the concept of "Hesher" than a fully flushed out character. While her acting was spot on, it wasn't entirely necessary nor was her plot. She's hot though, so it's easy to let go.

Ultimately this is a feel good movie in a Heavy Metal package. It has some, albeit vulgar, prolific metaphors for life that when thought over are actually spot on. You have to be able to set aside your offense, and see it for the touching movie it is to be able to enjoy it. I honestly felt that it's message was very heartfelt and sincere. If any of this sounds interesting, then watch "Hesher". If it sounds terrible, well, it's probably not for you.

Dark. Very, very dark, and profane, and vulgar, and raw, and rough, and funny and sacrilegious and did I mention vulgar. But I loved it! It's real life. This film yields one the most interesting discussions about how God is speaking through films. A fracked-up family. A pryomaniacal, head-banging, angel of death. A sweet and sexy grocery clerk. And Metallica music… what more do you need? This film is Psalm 88. It's a boy screaming to the heavens, "Why God? Where are You? Why don't you help me?" It's a once happy and bright life ruined by a car wreck. A mother killed. A son trying to be a man. A father dealing with depression. And a strange, reluctant "savior" that brings the family to the precipice of death; and life.

I think the greatest theme in this film comes when Hesher says he lost a (body part), but he has another one. Yes, the boy lost his mom, and his dad his wife, but they still have each other. Life is completely messed up, but we have each other.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson, Devin Brochu: beautifully acted. This film is the epitome of Beauty from Ugliness, Life from Death, Sacred from Profane.

A raucous take on your typical indie coming-of-age film, "Hesher" paints a portrait of grief and coping with adversity using a diverse palette of humor, sadness, rage, depression and raunch. Certain types will find a good degree of truth to writer/director Spencer Susser's tonal chaos, while others will raise eyebrows, but a part of "Hesher" will resonate with everyone.

Devin Brochu stars as T.J., who from the opening scene makes it clear he's trying to get himself killed at some point during the film. He's a bit reckless, and as it turns out he and his father (Rainn Wilson) are grieving for his mother, who died just a couple months before.

T.J's troubles lead him to an unfortunate encounter with a probably homeless chain-smoking metal rocker later to be introduced as Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who needless to say plays delightfully against type here.) Turns out that Hesher is about 10 times as reckless as T.J. and in a more brutal and calculating way. He follows T.J. to school, which scares the crap out of him, yet we can only assume it is Hesher who draws indecent images in permanent marker on the car of an older student bullying T.J.

Eventually, Hesher comes over uninvited and unannounced to T.J's grandmother's house, where T.J and his father are staying. He inserts himself aggressively yet peacefully into their home and becomes their guest over time, developing a friendship with the grandmother and taking a sort of tough-love mentorship of T.J.

We are to presume that the senility of the grandmother and the lifeless apathy of the pill- popping father lead to a casual acceptance of Hesher's newfound presence in their home. It's a significant leap, but Susser and his co-writers are much more preoccupied with creating this unlikely relationship between T.J. and Hesher that logistics take a back seat. Fortunately, the blunt humor spouted off by Hesher, who communicates almost exclusively in sexual metaphors, helps mask the plot's illogical backbone.

Although never explicitly stated, it becomes obvious that Hesher wishes to teach T.J. how to stick up for himself, and more importantly how not to fear the consequences. This, of course, is not the world view of an kid in his early teens, and it leads to several emotional whirlwinds for T.J. as he starts to come of age.

The script treats T.J. like an adult despite not being one: he curses regularly (which gets worse with Hesher around), he makes friends with people twice his age such as the grocery clerk at the local store (Natalie Portman) and in general he deals with things kids his age would rather not deal with. It's a bit ridiculous, but it does make for an interesting dynamic between him and Hesher.

At its core, "Hesher" is about dealing with "the ____ that happens to you," which begins to explain why in some scenes it's just Hesher breaking stuff, or T.J. breaking stuff, or conversely a slow and quiet dramatic and emotional scene such as when T.J. and his dad go to a grief support group. Each character handles it differently, and Hesher's purpose in the story is to shake up the way T.J and his father have handled with it so far with regards to the death of the mother.

Susser definitely punches home this message, but it comes through the thick clouds of X- rated humor and with scenes strung together without any cohesive tone. The heavy metal indie image that the film wants to give off doesn't necessarily gel with everything it wants to say. Certain moments are laugh-out-loud hysterical, while others are moving. Then some just feel weird. It's definitely a film that will connect with its audience, but its wired in an awkward way that will likely turn off some viewers.

~Steven C

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It's hard to really describe a movie like Hesher. At first it comes off as this bizarre comedy, but as the film goes along it becomes more and more this character study of a chaotic force coming into the life of a family that needs it more than they think. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's titular character is a psychopath, a heavy metal loving maniac who uses foul language at the most inappropriate times, flies off the handle with violence and pyromania and generally frightens anyone who sees him. He invites himself into the home of the Forneys without a word and no one tells him to leave or, more realistically, calls the police.

This concept is a little off-putting at first and gave me some slight trouble getting into the story, but once the film started to develop it became more and more...honest, in a strange way. They didn't tell him to leave because subconsciously they knew that they needed him. At first it seems like he's there for a home and a place to do laundry (the character is introduced living in a construction site) but later on we realize that he doesn't need them at all. He's a drifter in the wind, somehow helping these people that he comes into contact with despite initially seeming like the worst person you would ever want around. The concept is still a little too bizarre and the final act gets way too melodramatic and schmaltzy, but the film hit me a lot more honestly and emotionally than I was expecting it too.

I've always admired Levitt as one of the finest actors of his generation, but even I didn't think he could pull off a role like this. Boy, I was wrong to doubt him, because he is on fire the whole way through. Hilarious, terrifying and somehow heartfelt, he makes this character incredibly real, which is probably the biggest surprise of all. Natalie Portman also manages to impress in a supporting role as a shopgirl that Hesher and our young protagonist T.J. (a mature child performance from Devin Brochu) come into contact with. She grounds the film in some ways, being the most honest and human character, and she has a breakdown in her car with T.J. that is pretty wrenching.

I'm always kind of off-put by films where people in their late twenties somehow befriend ten year-olds and no one calls the police or anything, but this is one of the rare ones that allowed me to get past that initial gripe and eventually respect it for the solid character study that it is.