”
Love Liza
”
has been a labor of love for independent actor extraordinaire
Philip Seymour Hoffman (
”
Boogie Nights,
”
”
Happiness,
”
”
Magnolia
”
), who has been working on rehearsals for his brother Gordy’s
script for more than four years.
“Love Liza” has been a labor of love for independent actor extraordinaire Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Boogie Nights,” “Happiness,” “Magnolia”), who has been working on rehearsals for his brother Gordy’s script for more than four years.
Shot on a small budget in less than a month, “Love Liza” breathes with life and energy, and many have championed it as a brilliant work, much in the vein of “Leaving Las Vegas.” However, I find it to be unfocused, full of good work, but not quite working as a whole.
Hoffman’s performance as Wilson Joel is a good one, but he’s good even in the bad films (“Flawless”). What’s wrong with “Love Liza” is that it presents itself as a contemporary comedy that explores the healing process of Wilson as he goes through the grief of his wife’s tragic suicide.
It’s certainly not a bad film by any means, but the unfocused nature of “Love Liza” makes it hard to recommend because it just becomes a vehicle for us to experience Wilson’s grief, and he does little to change by the film’s end.
A brilliant Web designer, Wilson (Philip Seymour Hoffman) has been sleeping on the hardwood floor of his home since his wife Liza killed herself a few weeks back. Unable to sleep on the bed, Wilson is overcome with extraordinary grief and seems to think that it’s all a bad dream.
His mother-in-law (Kathy Bates, in a great performance) tries to get him to move in with her because she can see him crumbling and wants to get him back on his feet. There’s just one thing: Wilson has a suicide note that was left for him under his pillow just befor his wife took her life. Overwhelmed that this letter is the last communication he will ever have with his wife in this life, he refuses to open it, knowing that it may contain the reasons for her decision.
Wilson becomes more and more of a basket-case as time passes in the film. From the first moments, we are brought into his world, where he masks his pain by sniffing gas. Wilson has mastered the art of going to the filling station and filling up a gas can, each time coming up with what he thinks is a good excuse for his daily refill. Filling a rag with the petrol, he puts the fumes to his face throughout the day, falling into a perpetual daze that eventually takes over the plot of the film. So, what is supposed to be an examination of one man’s grieving process becomes a movie about a jerk who sniffs gas during all his waking hours.
Wilson disappears, taking a road trip to a tournament for racers of model boats (he likes the gas), where he meets up with his only friend, Denny (Jack Kehler), who has been racing the little machines as a hobby for a long time. Meanwhile, Mary Ann (Bates), who realizes his gas-sniffing ways, empties out his home, hoping to get him to read the letter, communicate and move on with his life. Wilson dismisses the action as the work of a burglar, even though it’s obvious that nobody has broken into the house.
“Love Liza” is ultimately a little frustrating, considering the quality of the acting work here. But the film loses its focus almost right away instead being a study of a louse who spends all his waking hours obliterated by the effects of sniffing gas. It has been talked about by some as a considerably fine film, but I think it loses its way. Besides, by the time the film ends, it’s obvious that Wilson still has tons of growing up to do.
LOVE LIZA. Directed by Todd Louiso. Written by Gordy Hoffman. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathy Bates and Jack Kehler. Rated R (language, brief partial nudity), 90 minutes. Now playing at Bay Area theaters.
