★ 7 / 10
**_Psychological study of “normal folks” at a rural
Wuchak
**_Psychological study of “normal folks” at a rural bar/restaurant_** In southeast New York, near the border of Pennsylvania, a shy tavern cook (Pruitt Taylor…
**_Psychological study of “normal folks” at a rural bar/restaurant_**
In southeast New York, near the border of Pennsylvania, a shy tavern cook (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is concerned about his weight after finding himself attracted to the new server, a drop-out college student (Liv Tyler). The other worker, an aging blonde (Deborah Harry), naturally feels threatened by her. Shelley Winters plays the matriarch and Joe Grifasi a drunk that hangs out at the pub.
"Heavy" (1995) has been called the “Marty” of the ’90s. I’ve never seen that one, but it stars Ernest Borgnine in a role similar to the protagonist here. While this is a character study of Victor, it also evaluates Del (Harry, aka Blondie); and the others to a lesser extent.
Del is closing in on 50 years-old, but was surely stunning back in the day. She’s left to making a living at a small-time tavern with romantic options limited to a garrulous alcoholic and a quiet mama’s boy.
Obviously, this is not a flick for people who require an explosion every ten minutes to keep their attention (not that there’s anything wrong with that, lol). It’s a mundane drama about regular people and the social dynamics thereof — their (boring) daily lives, hopes, fears, regrets, grievances and lamentations. In part, it’s about people who have been caged so long they no longer know how to be free. It’s similar in tone to other 90’s dramas like "Sling Blade," which came out the next year, and “Limbo” (1999). While it lacks the survival element of the latter, does it really?
The frontman of The Pixies was approached to play the part of Victor, but he declined, saying he wasn’t interested in playing such a character. Regardless, he would’ve fit the role.
The movie runs 1 hour, 44 minutes, and was shot in southeast New York at Barryville (Victor’s house); five miles northeast of there in Highland Lake (the tavern); across the border of Barryville in Shohola, Pennsylvania (the bridge); and 80 miles northeast of that area in Hyde Park, NY, on the Huson River (Culinary Institute).
GRADE: B
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★ 10 / 10
Quiet, devastating, and ultimately uplifting
drowned_soda
"Heavy" focuses on Victor Modino, an overweight, thirty-something cook who lives a quiet life running a roadhouse with his mother in upstate New York. His…
"Heavy" focuses on Victor Modino, an overweight, thirty-something cook who lives a quiet life running a roadhouse with his mother in upstate New York. His small world is turned upside down when Callie, a beautiful, kind young woman, comes to work in the restaurant. What ensues is a rich intersection of emotion, yearning, and ennui between the cast of characters running the establishment.
Perhaps one of the most underrated (and under-viewed) films of the 1990s, "Heavy" is a quiet, small film that pulls the emotional strings of the audience with a gentleness that is endearing and that manages to avoid erring into unabashed pathos. The protagonist, brilliantly acted by Pruitt Taylor Vince, is a man of few words, riddled with buried insecurity and social anxiety. Playing opposite Vince is a fresh-faced Liv Tyler, appearing as an unassuming, genuine young woman attempting to find her footing in the world. The emotional core of the film lay between these two characters, and both Vince and Tyler play them with precise skillfulness. Debbie Harry is equally impressive as a cynical longtime waitress, while Shelley Winters turns in a characteristically eccentric performance as the ailing matriarch of the restaurant.
What is perhaps most staggering about "Heavy" is that it rings eerily true to the locale in which it is set. The characters each feel like people we've seen in real life in anywhere, USA--small town ,working class people facing off their demons and failed aspirations. Director James Mangold (in his feature debut) captures a restlessness in each that is authentic, and the narrative is supported by atmospheric cinematography and a lush, sometimes unearthly score by Thurston Moore.
Some audiences seeking emotional (or literal ) fireworks may be bored to death by it, but for cinema lovers who appreciate character portraits and feelings of places, "Heavy" is an absolute gem. It's a quiet, small film full of quiet, small moments, but each of them have a ring of truthfulness that is difficult to ignore. Mangold manages to string these moments together with grace, leaving us an authentic, sparse narrative that still manages to uplift without drenching us in syrupy poignancy. Each of his characters, as embittered as they might be, are not entirely forsaken. 10/10.
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