Hesher is a 2010 drama film directed and written by Spencer Susser and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, and Rainn Wilson. First screened at the Sundance Film Festival January 22, 2010, the film was released in the United States on May 13, 2011.
Movie Synopsis
Following the loss of his mother in a car crash, T.J. (Devin Bronchu) falls into a state of depression, and social recluse. His pill popping father (Rainn Wilson) and he are forced to live with T.J.'s elderly, yet absent-minded grandmother (Piper Laurie).
After an argument with his father, T.J. goes into a construction project on his way to school, where he crashes his bicycle upon hitting a beam. Angrily, he throws an object into a bay window of a seemingly unoccupied project home and breaks it. It is then he meets a young man named Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who shows T.J. his violent streak, until the project security comes along after hearing the noise of the shattered window. Hesher follows T.J. to school, where later in class he tosses a large permanent marker to him through the window. Unbeknowst to T.J., Hesher had vandalized Dustin, a fellow student's car.
After school, Dustin gives chase to T.J. and both wind up in the parking lot of a local supermarket. A kindly young clerk, Nicole (Natalie Portman) breaks up the fight, and gives T.J. a ride back home. To his surprise, Hesher, uninvited, came into his grandmothers house and essentially made himself at home (doing laundry, smoking on the couch, and watching pornography after hacking the cable box). Paul has his doubts about Hesher's character, but is unwilling to do anything due to the enormous depression and subsequent pill abuse he is in. However, T.J.'s grandmother takes more kindly to Hesher, treating him as a grandson-type figure. Later that night during dinner, grandma Forney remarks she would like T.J. to walk with her, to which he subsequently refuses. Hesher, irritated by T.J.'s defiance, states that spending time with his grandmother is more important than school, through a crude and vulgar message.
Movie Trailer
Hesher Trailer
Movie Credit
Director: Spencer Susser
Writers: Spencer Susser, David Michôd
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Devin Brochu and Natalie Portman
For examining Christian beliefs through believable a character, Vera Farmiga has turned heads with her directorial debut, which is based on Carolyn Briggs's memoir, This Dark World. The film's most acknowledged success is how it handles a 20-year period in the adult Corrine's life, after an accident almost claims the lives of her husband and newborn child, and into the family's later years, as her conviction is tested by her experiences and expanded worldview. And there are no religious caricatures here, apparently -- though there are satirical moments that might feel typical and obvious.
