Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) crashes into the Fornay family home like an angel who got drunk and tattooed on the fall to Earth. The pain of the landing never made the headlines, but through his deviant behavior, seemingly depraved indifference, and insane antics, he showed others how to feel grateful. Hesher culminates the character personalities of many people with whom I have been friends in high school; the mask of suicide stick figure and middle finger tattoos, topped with long hair covering a smoker’s smile, belies a good person underneath.
The superficial movie plot revolves around the grief-stricken Fornay family whose son, T.J. (Devon Brochu), clings to the wreckage of the car in which his mother died as the result of a car crash. Just as the crash literally shook up the father, Paul Fornay (Rainn Wilson), son, and grandmother, Hesher’s whirlwind of destruction stormed in to metaphorically shake up an awakening.
Comic relief comes from the complete lack of judgment pot-smoking Granny exhibits toward the nearly naked Hesher’s uninvited presence in the family home. It goes to show that most of us do judge too harshly and should reach out to understand others more by offering to walk with them or teach them to smoke from a bong – as Hesher does for Granny.
A particularly powerful scene that shows the metaphor of the movie exists in the simple story of a feeder mouse standing up to Hesher’s snake in the cage, causing it to starve. The intoxicated Hesher tells Granny the story during the bong-smoking lesson, but the message gets across.
Another scene happens during the critical climax of the movie where T.J. nearly gets himself killed tracking down the car in which his mother died – when he is asked, “What are you doing?” The poignant question acts as a turning point in the movie where the characters start feeling their way through their own recovery.
The subliminal soundtrack of early Metallica and Motorhead songs speak to the themes in those same lyrics. Re-reading the lyrics to “Motorbreath” off Metallica’s first album Kill ‘Em All (1983), it sounds like the song was written for the movie.
“Hesher” teaches us, in a very powerful and chaotic way, that we need to take stock of our pain or it will consume us, and angels come in all shapes and sizes.
Be sure to buy your copy of “Hesher” from LionsGate Films and visit http://www.hesherthemovie.com/ for more information.
Review by Ellen Eldridge
