Review of Hesher (2010) by Giovanni C — 19 Jul 2013

A peculiar feature-length debut by director Spencer Susser, "Hesher" is lucky to star two great talents: Natalie Portman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, both in complicated character roles. Portman is Nicole, a poor and awkward shop clerk. Gordon-Levitt is a chaotically eccentric drifter Hesher. The characters form a trio with T.J. (Devin Brochu) who's a junior high freshman facing bullies, a drug addict father and the grief of having recently lost his mother.

"Hesher" is a seemingly aimless tale of a trio of characters forming an odd camaraderie and walking into one odd situation after another, but the movie really work due to its cast and its subtly entertaining script. Susser illuminates the lives of some of the least fortunate people in America, the ones who had the brains but not the money or circumstances to be something, now stuck in dead-end jobs or survival struggles, alone with their intelligence. Hesher and Nicole represent T.J's future and he knows it. He can't climb up from the pit because there's no ladder. There is very little hope for the future so he learns to live in each precious moment, just as Hesher does.

I really liked the way a potentially sentimental premise gets spun around to make a less predictable yet much more plausible story. "Hesher" is pure social realism, funny and likable, but under the surface grim and very no-nonsense.