Dir.
Todd Louiso, 2002, US/France/Germany, 89 mins
Cast:
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Sarah Koskoff, Stephen Tobolowsky and Jack Kehler
Philip Seymour Hoffman rightly holds an enviable position as one of the finest and most unique ensemble actors of his generation. He is known mainly for his supporting roles, especially in all of Paul Thomas Anderson's films including the now classic Boogie Nights and Magnolia. Love Liza provides a welcome vehicle for his talents to shine in a lead role. He plays Wilson Joel, a successful website designer battling to come to terms with his wife's recent suicide. She left him a letter that he can't bring himself to open, and for solace he turns to inhaling gasoline fumes. This results in a good part of the film testing how well Hoffman can play desperate and high. He is exemplary. Soon Joel is feeding his habit with remote control aircraft fuel as well as he sinks deeper and retreats from society, no longer able to function. Kathy Bates plays his mother-in-law, ostensibly offering him support, but hiding an underlying animosity and blame. She is desperate to read her daughter's letter, leading to her undertaking some extraordinary measures. This role is rather low-key for Bates and there is never the sparks between her and Hoffman that the pairing invites, a conscious decision no doubt, and entirely in keeping with the nature of the film. Todd Louiso's direction stretches the limits beyond what Hollywood normally finds acceptable. The pace is slow and there are lots of patches of silence in the soundtrack. With other subject matter this could be quite endearing, but here it adds to the morose atmosphere that permeates the entire film and things can sometimes drag. The tagline reads "A Comic Tragedy", but overall there is very little to smile at. Some light relief is provided by the quirky relationship Joel develops on the road with remote control enthusiast Denny (Jack Kehler) and this acts as the catalyst for an unusual moment of rebirth. Upon returning home, he cleans up and manages to get a new job, but just when he is getting his life back together events take an unpredictable turn, sending him back to the gasoline and the igniting climax of the film. Gentle throughout, Jim O'Rourke's music supplies the bedding for some of the film's most tender and poignant moments. The production design and cinematography are both appropriate and seamless. Hoffman gives everything the film asks of him, but it is quite plain that he has more to offer and greater roles to perform. Having followed Joel on his ride up an emotional escalator, it is fitting that the ending is left open in this well crafted, enigmatic, yet ultimately melancholic film. Gavin Bush
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