15 July 2013

Hesher

I can safely say that this is the most vulgar, rude, obnoxious and crude role we have ever seen Joseph Gordon-Levitt in. Who'd have thought that the young innocent teenager from '10 things I hate about you' (1999), could pull something like this out of the bag? Well he certainly does. Hesher is not for the light-hearted, it is not a Sunday afternoon flick but it is however a feel good film in its own right.

Other than the plot line being incredibly heavy, when Hesher gets involved with a boy who has just lost his mother in a car crash, whose father has giving up on life and constantly being bullied at school, he tries to help albeit going completely the wrong way about it! So when T.J finds Hesher imposing in his own home, this poor little boys life really goes from bad to worse - mainly due to the unwanted help Hesher is volunteering to give him, when it just seems like he is virtually intruding on this kids life. T.J's life sucked and now it sucks even more (Thanks Joe!) You hate Joseph's character from start to finish, with the rather unnecessary electric guitar rift that impose on the soundtrack every time Hesher is on screen, luckily it doesn't last long and I half expected him to shout 'Radical Dude'!  Aside from such techniques, the whole film has a very raw, Indie feel to it which reaches out to the viewer and says look, it can always be worse, yeah worry about it but then we have to take on the next challenge that life throws are way and the majority of the characters by the end of this horrific journey finally see the light. I certainly thought it hit home and I found myself really feeling for the guys on screen and wishing that they would just get a break from their unlucky streak, and they kinda do.

To sum up Hesher - a film that I won't be seeing again, purely because it was such a bleak subject matter. The cast give very powerful performances which really get the plot going but as I said it wasn't a feel good film that I enjoyed. It is heavy, emotive and you will find yourself thinking that these guys have got it really bad, especially when the chaotic explosion of Hesher appears on screen.

Directed by Spencer Susser
106mins, 18 (2010)     

No comments:

Post a Comment