Steve Pulaski
Just two days ago, I was talking to a group of girls I know about one of the saddest films I've yet to see in my young life, which was the criminally underrated film The Mudge Boy, about a teenage boy grieving after the death of his mother and enduring untold hell along the way. Explaining the film in an admittedly disjointed manner, I could easily see why their eyebrows would raise at the idea of a male teenager finding comfort in wearing his deceased mother's wedding dress and even recognizing that the boy's only friend was a chicken. However, being that the film was about grieving and finding solace in the strangest things, one has to understand that if you yourself haven't been in a similar position - where something happened to someone you love and the only way you could cope with it would be by doing something abnormal - then it's understandable why such a thing prompts a reaction of confusion.Now I'm faced with Todd Louiso's Love Liza, a deeply upsetting picture that hits the same notes as The Mudge Boy, just in a manner far less mentally affecting for myself. That doesn't mean that Louiso hasn't a fascinating, however. At its core is a wonderful performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman, showing vulnerability and disillusionment in raw form. I can compare this to his performance in the unseen Owning Mahowny, where Hoffman played a gambling addict who wound up embezzling over ten million dollars from a company he worked for. Hoffman was able to convey the character of Mahowny in such a way where when he wasn't gambling, he looked like an empty shell of a man, and when he was gambling, a lively soul you almost wanted to be around for luck.Hoffman, playing Wilson Joel in Love Liza, shows just the kind of emptiness when his character's wife dies that he did with Mahowny in Owning Mahowny when his character wasn't gambling. Shocked and deeply saddened by his wife's death, Wilson can't even bring himself to open the suicide note his wife left for him in a plain-white envelope, with his name written on the front. Instead, Wilson resorts to developing an insatiable addiction to huffing gasoline and feeding his newfound love for flying radio- controlled airplanes. With his short temper, hot-and-cold attitude, and unpredictable nature, Wilson successfully alienates all his friends and acquaintances, including his deceased wife's mother Mary Ann (Kathy Bates). The only person who manages to get a few words out of Wilson is his brother-in-law Denny (Jack Kehler), who is also growing increasingly tired of his brother's distant and offputting attitude.One can blame Wilson for his growing isolation from the world around him, but look at what the guy has after the death of his wife - no apparent financial security of any kind (Wilson works at a low-level computer job that can't pay much more than barely-viable wages), he has no companionship (one questions if he even did before his wife's death), and the only current mystery in his life is what his wife may have left in her suicide note, which he refuses to even open. Hoffman's performance is ultimately the reason to see Love Liza. Hoffman believed in an acting philosophy that was predicated off of realism and the reality of situations. He didn't believe that all his clothes he wore during the shoot should be ironed, or his hair properly combed, or lint picked off his apparel because that isn't how real life works. Many of us have apparent issues in our dress, hair, and attire, and, especially here, Hoffman conveys those little imperfections wonderfully. In addition, Hoffman's character's depression and sadness never feels like a put-on for emotional sentimentality or cheap, manipulative writing and acting tactics. Rather than seemingly trying to make us cry at every plot-twist and conflict the film brings, writer Gordy Hoffman makes the film a low-key character study, using realism in impact and personal trouble to communicate the depression the character is facing. Arguably, Gordy Hoffman's only misstep is that he doesn't give much indication as to what Wilson like prior to his wife's death, and because of that, the film leaves us in the dark in that respect.Love Liza still takes the cake for being a film that invites an outsider in to the idea of coping with a personal tragedy that affects the mind and body all in one instance. At its core is a troubling performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman, a wise focus conducted by writer Gordy Hoffman, and an intelligent, intimate focus by director Louiso, making Love Liza an instant winner. Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathy Bates, and J.D. Walsh. Directed by: Todd Louiso.
crystalart
I've been a long time fan of Philip Seymour Hoffman,and this is one of my favorites! With an addiction to gasoline fumes Hoffman successfully portrays an individual so messed up I found myself calling out loud for him to stop what he was doing.It's black, it's funny, and you'll love it if you like this type of film! Kathy Bates is an actress who always impresses me. She's especially good in "Misery" with James Cohn, Yhen she's wonderful in "About Schmidt". No one will forget the hot tub scene.After this film, I don't think many people would find gasoline their drug of choice.
Joseph Sylvers
Great character study, carried by Philip Seymor Hoffman. A man's wife suddenly kills herself, and distraught he in turn begins a self destructive lifestyle of huffing gasoline. In order to explain why he's carrying gas around with him, he lies and says it's for remote controlled air planes. After a gas attendant finally calls him on it, he begins a bender/mental collapse induced mission to find a remote control plane competition. Slow paced, but rewarding, and sincere. Though bleak at times it's one of the most emotionally rich looks at grief, I've ever seen in a film. Or wanted to see, for that matter, because the subject disinterested me from the word go. Anway it's a great thing to be proved wrong sometimes.
