Love Liza (2002) User Reviews

Bereft

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 1 December 2005]

One never knows how grief will affect anyone. The loss of a loved one is something no one is prepared for. When tragedy strikes, as it's the point of this film, the surviving spouse is so desolate that he cannot deal with his loss. That is why Wilson, the grieving husband of Liza goes to the deep end trying to cope with her untimely death.

Liza's death is not spoken of until Wilson receives a telephone call from the local newspaper editor that is trying to write an obituary about her death and asks whether he wants to mention the suicide, or not. We get a clue about what happened to Liza when Wilson goes to the garage and sees her car. This is a link, perhaps, as to why he resorts to sniffing gasoline, as a way to obliterate the tragedy from his mind, as Wilson tries to comprehend what could have motivated her suicide.

"Love Liza" is a different kind of film. It will irritate some viewers, but ultimately, it will reward those that stay with the story. The screen play written by Gordy Hoffman could have used some editing, but his story feels real. Todd Luiso directed with conviction.

The film's main character, Wilson, is brilliantly played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, one actor who is always a pleasure to watch for the intensity he brings to his appearances. In fact, his Wilson is one of the best roles he has played. Kathy Bates, on the other hand, as the mother of the dead Liza, is only seen briefly, but her scenes convey the impression how this woman is suffering as she seeks answers about her daughter's untimely departure. Sarah Koskoff, Stephen Tobolowsky and Jack Kehler, especially, make good contributions to the film.

This film is a must for Phillip Seymour Hoffman's fans.

Love Liza

[nycritic · 6/10 · 17 March 2005]

There are some people who, despite the tragedy which befalls them, are able to move on with their lives without letting the pain become so all-consuming as to stop all conscious action. There are others, however, for whom loss and pain become synonymous of living in a state of arrested development that eventually spins out of control. This is the case of Wilson Joel (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who, after his wife Liza has killed herself, sees little reason to go on with his life and eventually stops going to work to nurture a growing addiction to gasoline. At 89 minutes, LOVE LIZA tries to tell an honest story of a man unable to pick himself up and move on, but because the man in question isn't quite sympathetic and scenes wander without an apparent purpose it seems a little too long, and when a crucial confrontation scene with his mother-in-law (Kathy Bates) arrives, it feels very belated and we understand that Wilson may not return to his former life. Too depressing at times, this is only for indie aficionados.

The beaches of New Orleans

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 21 February 2003]

Greetings again from the darkness. It has been a week since I saw this and I am still not sure what to make of it. Philip Seymour Hoffman comes through beautifully in his first true lead role. He magically captures the private pain and freedom associated with losing a loved one. Hoffman's brother, Gordy, wrote the screenplay and it is brilliant in its ability to make the audience (and sometimes its lead character) smile, even laugh during a most sorrowful time. Kathy Bates delivers a strange, but effective performance as the grieving-wanna be- helpful mother-in-law. Two terrific supporting roles from the great Stephen Tobolowsky and Jack Kehler. Director Todd Louiso (Dick from "High Fidelity") lets us examine our feelings on mourning and how individualistic the process can be. Who knows what is the right way to grieve, or when enough is enough? Trying to find yourself after losing a part of your life is not necessarily a 12 step program, nor should it be. Re-discovering life can be painful and exhilarating and this movie shows both sides pretty well.

a searing study of grief

[Buddy-51 · 17 August 2003]

Philip Seymour Hoffman has made a career out of playing deeply depressed characters. In `Love Liza,' he has found what might well be his most perfectly suited role to date, that of a young man trying to come to terms with the suicide of his wife.

Written by Gordy Hoffman and directed by Todd Louiso, `Love Liza' is a searing study of grief, one that chronicles the many stages a man goes through in coping with this type of tragedy. Wilson first finds himself unable to sleep in the same bed he used to share with his wife. Then he returns to the place where they spent their honeymoon in a vain attempt to find some solace or answers there. Then there's the turn towards self-destruction as he seeks escape from his pain by inhaling mass quantities of gasoline. All along the way, well-meaning friends, colleagues and family members proffer what they can in the way of support and sympathy but, invariably, they find themselves ill-equipped to deal with grief at this level of intensity. This is even the case with Mary Ann, Wilson's understanding mother-in-law, who is having to cope with her son-in-law's dysfunction while also dealing with her own grief at the loss of her daughter.

The title of the film comes from a signed suicide note Liza left to Wilson under his pillow. That letter, which Wilson cannot bring himself to open, only adds to the man's despair, for he fears it may reveal that he was somehow responsible for his wife's actions. Thus, wracked with guilt as well as grief, Wilson slides ever further into that deep dark hole of despair. The filmmakers, in an effort to mitigate some of the misery inherent in the subject matter, invest the story with a number of sly, quirky touches, such as Wilson's sudden obsession with mechanized toy airplanes. But the overwhelming sadness is never far from the film's surface.

`Love Liza' is, at its core, an actor's film – and the cast proves itself worthy of the challenge. Hoffman's portrait of a man whose entire meaning for existence has been knocked out from under him is devastating in its understatement and power. Kathy Bates turns in an equally fine and subdued performance as his grieving mother-in-law, and Sarah Koskoff and Jack Kehler offer fine support.

Is `Love Liza' a `dark' film? Absolutely. But it is also a brave, insightful and compelling one for those willing to enter its world. It may not be easy to watch, but it is probably harder not to.

Unremittingly Grim

[yespat · 7/10 · 16 February 2007]

Before you watch this film you must ask yourself, how depressed am I? There is not a bright light in this film anywhere. If you are already on the edge and don't want to go over, I would not recommend watching this film.

That said, Phillip Seymour Hoffman gave an Oscar-worthy performance. He was completely terrific and should have won the Oscar for this film. Kathy Bates was great too. Everyone was great. The story was believable and well scripted.

But, unless you enjoy slumming in depression, I would forgo watching this film. There are too many other films that offer even the smallest ray of positivity to spend your time on this one. A tiny smile generated from a film is, in my humble opinion, better than being left looking for the razor blades.

I gave it a 7 because of the craftsmanship exhibited by the actors and filmmakers. If I had to give it a rating on how it made me feel afterward, I'd probably have to give it a 1.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman carried this movie brilliantly

[coedog3 · 7/10 · 28 August 2003]

This movie had decent directing, decent story, well done cinematography. The only thing that really made it worth watching was Seymour Hoffman's awesome performance. The movie was a bit quiet at times, I think there was a point in the movie when not a word was said for at least ten minutes. But if your someone who'll see a movie just for the acting, than this one is worth renting, probably not buying though, it's far too depressing.

This is not your mother's film about death of a loved one

[darthmaus · 9/10 · 11 February 2003]

This is not 'Terms of Endearment'. This film does not offer answers, explanations, or resolution, and as such I found it to be a very effective portrayal of the aftermath of a suicide.

It's not an enjoyable film to watch, but it's very much worthwhile. First off, the acting is fantastic. Philip Seymour Hoffman deserves all the raves he's getting for this role -- he's downright painful to watch. All of the supporting cast -- except for the mother-in-law portrayed by Kathy Bates, who is exhausted with her own grief -- brilliantly introduces nuances of discomfort. It's not overdone, but it's obvious that these characters are internally dealing with the question of how to deal with Hoffman's character Wilson, who has just suffered this terrible and shocking loss. The dialogue is consistently and realistically not natural, in keeping with the awkward position of the supporting characters and Wilson's deteriorating mental health.

I have seen this film criticized because Wilson's position is *so* dreary, that it may seem over-the-top, unrealistic. But, really, the character's wife recently shot herself. What bright spots were such critics expecting in this character's life at this time? I believe the writing of the plot is realistic in this regard.

Structurally, it's brave, risky, and effective. I felt alienated by the lack of explanation and resolution of Wilson's position. Not a positive emotion to walk out of a film with, but extremely powerful. The sparse soundtrack and the painfully sympathetic supporting characters all added to this feeling of alienation.

A difficult to watch downer

[bandw · 6/10 · 26 March 2006]

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Wilson, a software engineer who has just lost his wife to suicide. The movie traces Wilson's descent into gasoline sniffing, erratic behavior, wanton risk taking, and ultimate self-destruction.

P.S.H. and Kathy Bates turn in good performances but, whereas Hoffman is the central focus, his performance is a little more mannered and forced than we have come to expect from him.

Maybe there is no more meaning to grief than as a highly personal experience, but as a moviegoer having suffered through this man's trauma for an hour and a half I wanted more reward. The hook to keep us interested was the suicide note, but it turned out to be rather generic. At the end we are just left with lots of questions: what was Wilson's wife like, did he drive her to suicide, how come he had no friends, what was it in the relationship that the suicide knocked him for such a loop, what was he like before the suicide, does the final scene imply that Wilson has taken the final step into madness or that the only way for him to recover was to leave everything behind?

If you are a P.S.H fan, then maybe there is enough here for you, but I think this movie will be a little too dark for most viewers.

Beautiful, Sad, and a Little Bit Wacky

[mcnally · 10/10 · 10 September 2002]

I saw this film at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival. This is the feature directorial debut of actor Todd Louiso (and yes, he talks and acts exactly like his character in High Fidelity). Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Wilson Joel, a man whose wife has committed suicide before the film begins. We follow Wilson as he tries to carry on, unable to open the suicide note she left for him, becoming addicted to sniffing gasoline fumes, and trying to make friends among radio-control car/boat/plane enthusiasts. If it sounds a bit wacky, it is. It's also beautiful and very very sad. Hoffman is a genius at playing lovable sad sacks, and he's even better than usual here, carrying the entire picture on his slumped shoulders. The wonderful Jack Kehler (who played the artistic superintendent in The Big Lebowski) provides excellent comic relief. Philip's brother Gordy Hoffman wrote the screenplay, and the film took four years to get made. Obviously a labour of love. A gorgeous melancholy soundtrack from Jim O'Rourke adds immeasurably to an already powerful film.

Sometimes close-ups are too pretentiously close......

[wisewebwoman · 6/10 · 24 May 2004]

By the end of this movie I knew more about Philip Seymour Hoffman's eyelashes and acne pits than he knows himself. This was straining to be an Important Movie about grief with all of its intense close-ups but fell far short. I normally admire movies that are character driven, and here the main character trudges through mud but oh so slowly, far too slowly. Yes I understand him (immature, petulant, inappropriate) but this leaves me with the strongest of desires to know why Liza married him, was she equally this way, or the opposite? Why did she kill herself? Philip does a great job as always with the limited material he has. But the disappointing part was that I found, at the end, when all was said and done, I just did not care whether he lived or died. Way too narcissistic ( look how he treats the glue sniffing kids). And yes, I am aware he is immature in his addictive processes himself. Jack Kehler as Denny stole the show. 6 out of 10.

Worst video release of the year.

[senortuffy · 3/10 · 6 March 2004]

If your idea of a fun evening is watching some burnout spiral downward into the depths of depression then have I got a movie for you.

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a computer programmer who goes off the deep end after his wife kills herself. No reason is ever given for the suicide, but she does leave her husband a letter which he carries around for almost the entire movie without opening it. That's what the title stands for, her signoff.

There's nothing wrong with Hoffman's acting - he's playing his usual character, the rumpled guy. But there's no drama to the story. We're presented with a man who's understandable upset about his wife's death, but that's it, that's the entire movie. The only change in the main character's state is that he gets progressively weirder as time goes by. He's withdrawn, anti-social, compulsive, demanding. By the end of the movie, he's reached the state of a two-year-old. The final scene is of him running through traffic with nothing on except a pair of underwear, like a big baby in diapers.

And what's with the guy sniffing gasoline? I thought there was some connection between the gas and his wife's death, but unless I missed something, it's just a quirk of his. I've heard of poor kids in third world countries sniffing gas, but that's because they can't afford drugs. You'd think someone with Hoffman's socio-economic standing could abuse something besides sniffing gasoline fumes.

Kathy Bates shows up as his mother-in-law, and she's just as strange as he is. In fact, just about everyone in the movie is a bit odd. Social interactions are strained all around, which just accentuates the main character's withdrawal. All in all, it's a very hard film to watch.

Loved Love Liza!

[SwooooP · 10/10 · 26 October 2003]

Love Liza is a not a movie for everyone. Its kind of slow but that is kind of the point. We meet Wilson Joel, beautifully portrayed by one of my favourite actors Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who has lost his wife, Liza. His wife has committed suicide, and our friend is seriously struggling with his loss. He finds Lizas suicide letter, and Wilson who has great problems solving his grief is unable to read the letter.

I found this movie to be really good. Like I said, it's not a movie for everyone, but If you like movies that shows personal drama in a non-Hollywood fashion, you might like this one. Kathy Bates plays Lizas mother, an as always, she does a hell of a job.

Hoffman, Hoffman, Hoffman!

[famsmith · 6/10 · 11 June 2003]

The amazing thing about this movie is Phillip Seymour Hoffman's performance. I don't know how I continue to be pleasantly surprised by Mr. Hoffman's work, but he is one of the few prodigious actors who gives you something different every time. What makes Hoffman so great is that he takes a mediocre, run of the mill independent film, that is so run of the mill it is almost a stereotype, but you can't turn off the movie and half way into it I ackinowledged that it was the genius of Hoffman that kept me watching. This film was promoted with the promise that it might do for Hoffman's career what Leaving Las Vegas did for Nicholas Cage. Ironically, it hasn't and it won't. I say ironically because Hoffman is a far better actor than Nick Cage, but Cage is marketable, and he is also related to a living legend in Francis Ford. I liken Hoffman's performance to that of De Niro in Taxi Driver, not because it's as big of a performance, but the roles are night and day, I make the comparison because it is the intensity and charisma that breathes life into an otherwise worthless and lackluster character. Kathy Bates turns in an average performance in an average role. Ms. Bates is too good for the part, but so is Hoffman, and as great as Bates is Hoffman shines that much brighter. The only other thing worth noting is that Lisa Rinzler is the cinematographer for the film. Rinzler was featured on the brilliant documentary Visions of Light, but there is nothing extraordinary about the photography. Then again, neither was there anything extraordinary about the film other than Hoffman's performance. Watch this film if you want to see what a great actor can do with a mediocre role or if you just love Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but if that was the case you would have watched it already.

Best line in the movie

[beebeedoo · 5/10 · 27 April 2018]

...was Kathy Bates, "You had it all!" Otherwise, painstakingly sat through this just to see what the letter said. Depressing story of a man on a downward spiral. Highly unlikely there would be no mishaps while sucking gas fumes. Only if you love PSH should you watch this movie.

Metaphor, not reality (spoiler)

[joebenaiah · 9 July 2004]

This film is hard to wrap your head around at first. Rather then give the viewer closure, it gives an extremely oblique ending. Why was Wilson walking down the road in only his underwear. (As a friend of mine pointed out about Bill in vol. 2, Where exactly was he walking to? Did he want to check out his garden with his last 5 steps?) I think that the ending is supposed to be a metaphor, rather then a literal interpretation.

Possible meanings: 1) The obvious metaphor is that Wilson is destroyed by the fire and is reborn. The match lights the destruction of his life and he is reborn. He wanders out into the world ready to begin again, a phoenix from the ashes.

2) Maybe the match combined with his huffing kill him and the metaphor is that in the end he is destroyed by her . The true victims of are those closest to the deceased and maybe the metaphor is that he is destroyed utterly by her choice. After all his of choice is similar to her method of , he carries a physical representation of her with him everywhere and he is only able to comes to terms with her after he has lost everything.

One last question: What was the significance of the scene of his wife drying after a shower? I love as much as the next guy but it seemed kind of random. If it was a hallucination, why her drying off?

I realize this isn't exactly groundbreaking stuff here but this is my first try.

Good grief

[skymovies · 6/10 · 22 November 2002]

Unlikely to put a spring in anyone's step, this downbeat meditation on grief does have an ace up its sleeve in the estimable Philip Seymour Hoffman. His portrayal of Wilson, a widower hooked on pain-relieving fuel fumes, is a tour-de-force of naked emotion. He, and Kathy Bates in the difficult mother-in-law role, are quite outstanding.

But his brother Gordy's script piles on rather too much emotional trauma, contriving to make life as miserable as possible for poor Wilson. As a result, the honesty of the film is somewhat tainted and it will raise a few cynical eyebrows.

Prior to this screening at the London Film Festival, producer Ruth Charny purposely described the film as "messy", and said that it "doesn't offer any answers". So though it's undeniably brave, Love Liza drifts a little too closely to 'TV matinee tearjerker' territory. That said, I wish it well.

Stay with the intensity

[orbitbear · 7/10 · 22 December 2003]

Phillip Seymour Hoffman showed a very accurate range in his portrayal of a grieving, guilt-ridden man after his wife's suicide. I love that the movie is really nothing more than a snapshot of one man's grief after a traumatic event in his life. His turn to gas-huffing and sleeping in his car was such a damaged and poignant way of being close to Liza -- being connected to the manner in which she took her life and to how she spent her final waking moments. The movie never professes to be about her in any way (except that her name appears in the title). This movie is about how a bereaved man moves between being completely disengaged with life and being in a raging state of agony, panic and regret. The model airplane enthusiast parts were a bit frustrating, but overall, this movie was extremely poignant and worth sitting through all of the quiet and intensity.

Hard to watch and Hard to forget

[joe-baker · 8/10 · 14 July 2006]

I think PSH is wonderful in this movie and it really shows his incredible acting abilities in a very raw way.

This is a tragic, tragic film that demonstrates the waves of destruction that emanate from suicide. It shows the decline of a ordinary man doing well to a self destructive huffing addict. You could watch this with your wife, if she can stay awake, and then you'll find yourselves discussing it for weeks.

Don't expect to discover the moral, learn lessons or take away answers from this movie. The beauty of this movie is that it leaves more questions than answers. Its a movie that inspires thinking and a barrage of unanswered questions left in your head. Any movie that inspires so much thought after it is over is a real winner to me.

No Love Lost Here

[meeza · 6/10 · 23 September 2003]

To the filmmakers of `Love Liza':

I am sorry to inform you that your film `Love Liza' is not the most abstruse movie about suicide that I have ever seen. I must admit that Phillip Seymour Hoffman's performance as the grieving widow was the lifesaver of `Love Liza'. Hoffman continues to prove why we must `see more' of Phillip in movies today. Unfortunately, the screenplay of `Love Liza' presents a Dr. Kervokian suicide call for help. Its lackadaisical dialogue did not live up to its premise. I did not love `love liza' but I would not include it in a self-destructive category.

Love,

Meeza

*** Average

A dark look at the life of an unfortunate individual.

[elitisteloquence · 9/10 · 5 August 2003]

In short, this movie did precisely what it intended to do. After his spouse committs suicide, Hoffman's character finds himself on a dark journey of the heart. Depressed and hopeless, he turns to a dangerous drug to find solace. I have never seen grief portrayed as well as I have seen in this flick. If you allow yourself to become engaged with Mr. Hoffman's character, you will find yourself walking along in his slow, trudging shoes. You will find yourself struggling for rhyme, reason and redemption just like him. Some may argue that the character never evolves, or developes. That my friends, is the point of this masterpiece.

Love Exxon - SPOILERS

[kmolesworth · 6/10 · 24 January 2004]

I love PSH, think he's probably the best actor in America today (definitely best young actor) and his performance carries this movie. After about 45 minutes of making the point that he is sniffing gas, I said out loud. "Yeah, I get it...he sniffs gas". That's basically the first half of the movie. Does it take 45 minutes to set up that the sad guy is sniffing gas? Maybe it was the long seductive shot of the gas pump that went too far for me...

I thought of some other recent "addiction is bad" type of movies, like Trainspotting or Requiem for a Dream and while drugs were a major player in those you understood it, but the entire movie wasn't various shots of taking drugs over and over and over and over.

Kathy Bates...I'm sorry Kathy. You too are a fantastic actor, but you had nothing to do. How many shots of you staring into the distance does a movie need? The script didn't allow you to do anything until about the last 15 minutes.

I was annoyed by the disappearance of a few Characters, Maura and the couple from the vacation. What the hell was that scene all about? Go on vacation, he's on vacation, he's back from vacation.

If not for Hoffman and Bates, this movie would probably be a four, but they each add a point.

Finally, there were a bunch of things that caused me to say that seems unlikely. After the RC rally in LA, Denny is towing Wilson's car? What they just stopped at the U-Haul? After the "robbery" it didn't occur to Wilson that they cleaned the house, mopped and vacuumed? It was clear right away who had done it. Maybe, he couldn't figure it out due to his huffing, but when not high he was a pretty bright guy.

I wanted to love this movie, if only for Hoffman, but I couldn't.

Mediocrity comes to life!

[beachhead138 · 1/10 · 5 June 2003]

The packaging describes Love Liza as a "comic tragedy" and apparently some people feel that the movie is meant to be funny. Personally, I don't see whats funny about destroying yourself in a very anti-social fashion out of a pure self-pity but that didn't bother me so much.

What did bother me were the things this movie lacked. I had no sense of who the wife was or the relationship between her and husband and what factors may have driven her to commit suicide. Kathy Bates character (the dead wife's mother) is completely irrelevant as a result of this.

The romanticizing of Hoffman's gas huffing is little over the top. Okay, so his wife stuffed a rag in her exhaust pipe and killed herself. I don't see how that would drive a person to be obsessed with soaking rags in gasoline and inhaling the fumes as a form of escapism. Heroin addiction seems more commonplace than gas huffing.

To sum things up: Philip Seymour Hoffman is a great actor and delivers a strong performance. It's apparent that the director of this movie was much more concerned with artsy shots of freeways, Hoffman occupying his empty house and his run ins at gas stations and hobbyshops than developing the storyline. Plus, the run-ins with his brother-in-law (a token indy film weirdo) were completely unnecessary.

Good film, made Brilliant by superb performances

[wesvanhorn · 9/10 · 2 August 2005]

"Love Liza" is a great film. A story about depression and the effect loved ones have on each other, it elicits all kinds of emotions from the audience: Laughter, Sadness, Anger. It deals with two subjects that are not easily displayed on film: Drug Use and Suicide, but deals with them in a brilliant way. After the death of his wife, Wilson (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), is thrown into a state of depression. He finds his wife's suicide note but does not want to open for fear of its contents and begins huffing gasoline to try to steer clear of the pain. Phillip Seymour Hoffman IS Wilson and does not skip a beat the entire film. He is one of this generations greatest actors, and this film shows why. Jack Kehler as Denny turns in a tremendous performance as well as Kathy Bates as Wilson's mother-in-law. Good film, made brilliant by superb performances.

A little too dark for my taste . . .

[evilmatt-3 · 6/10 · 12 January 2003]

. . . and I like Todd Solondz's films. Seriously, I think that this film is intended to be funny (or at least parts of it are), but frankly it's just too real to be amusing. Part of the credit to this goes to the once again spectacular Mr. Hoffman (who FINALLY gets the top billing he deserves, although unfortunately it's for this movie). Hoffman plays the role of the grieving drug addict with unbelievable depth and sincerity. It honestly made me wonder how I ever believed the performance from anyone else. He's why I saw this film in the first place, and he's just that good.

The rest of the film, though, is pretty bleak, both in an emotional and filmic sense. The aforementioned Solondz has been accused of dwelling on the negative through his work, but even in the darkest moments of _Happiness_ there was at least a shred of optimism. _Love Liza_ offers no such comfort: it is depressing until its final moments. Much of this originates from the screenplay. To be fair, it is entirely likely that the writer did not intend for the ending to be interpreted this way. However, the whole film is so obscure (especially the letter- I'm not even sure I understood exactly what Liza was saying) that the point gets lost in a flood of gasoline and clunky metaphors.

See this movie to support Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but don't expect a masterpiece.

don't see this movie. SPOILER ALERT!!!!

[randerson370 · 1/10 · 11 February 2007]

The most useless, depressing movie ever! No hero. No tension. No humor. There is no reason to watch this movie...ever. Hoffman is OK I guess, but his acting in this film ranges from catatonic to asleep. I don't mind depressing movies necessarily (Happiness, Weather Man for example are good ones) but this is just a waste of time. Kathy Bates is under-utilized, the landlord from The Big Lebowski is OK. I mean, a main character you don't like and don't care about? Why? SPOILER: the suicide note that you have been waiting for the whole movie is dumb, and the ending just leaves you wondering why. Why to the whole bloody thing!