(1995)
3.5
Karl Williams
The gloomy surroundings, somber tone, and languid pace ultimately become wearying, but this romantic drama from writer/director James Mangold hailed the arrival of an interesting, provocative artist to join the mid-'90s wave of talented indie newcomers that also included Todd Solondz, David O. Russell, and Paul Thomas Anderson. Mangold draws powerful performances from his cast, particularly lead Pruitt Taylor Vince, a respected character actor who carries the film on his sad-sack shoulders with varying degrees of palpable fear, pain, and hope. Vince is complemented by the willowy Liv Tyler in one of her first, star-making parts, and especially by the revelatory Debbie Harry as a waitress bruised by life -- promiscuous, envious, and still harboring a flickering scrap of romantic hope. If Mangold can learn to forgo the turgid pacing and overweening sense of doomed portent that hangs like a noxious cloud over this film and his subsequent, underrated Cop Land (1997), he may become one of the finest actor's directors of his cinematic freshman class.
Trailer
awards for Heavy on AllMovie
Heavy (1995)
Sundance Film Festival
|
Won |
Special Jury Prize: Dramatic
|
1994 |
