Heavy movie storyline. Victor is a cook who works in a greasy bar/restaurant owned by his mother, Dolly. It’s just the two of them, a waitress named Delores, and a heavy drinking regular, Leo. But things change when Callie, a beautiful college drop-out, shows up as a new waitress and steals Victor’s heart. But Victor is too shy to do anything about it, and too self-consciously overweight to dream of winning Callie away from her demanding boyfriend, Jeff. Victor’s terrible loneliness overwhelms him when he has to face losing what he loves the most.
Heavy is a 1995 independent American drama film written and directed by James Mangold, and starring Liv Tyler, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Shelley Winters, and Deborah Harry. The plot focuses on an unhappy overweight cook (Vince) and the changes which are brought into his life after an enchanting college drop-out (Tyler) begins working as a waitress at his and his mother’s roadside tavern. The film explores themes of loneliness, false hope, unrequited love, and the problematic nature of self worth.
The film was Mangold’s directorial debut, and he wrote the screenplay for it while attending filmmaking seminars at Columbia University. The film featured an original soundtrack by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth as well as songs by Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, who also had a minor role in the film. Filming took place on location in and around Barryville and Hyde Park, New York; some scenes were filmed at the Culinary Institute of America.
Heavy premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize and was later screened at Cannes before receiving major theatrical releases. It was first released in the United Kingdom on December 29, 1995, and later received a limited release in the United States on June 5, 1996.
Director James Mangold won “Best Screenplay” and Grand Prix Asturias “Best Feature” at the Gijón International Film Festival, and the Special Jury Prize for Directing at the Sundance Film Festival.
The film was reportedly given a theatrical release in the United States after Liv Tyler’s critical recognition in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty (1996). Eighteen months after the film premiered to jury-winning accolades at the Sundance Film Festival (and over two years after it was originally filmed), Heavy was given a limited theatrical release in the United States in June 1996, opening on only twenty two screens. It had been released prior in the United Kingdom in late December 1995.
Heavy (1996)
Directed by: James Mangold
Starring: Pruitt Taylor Vince, Shelley Winters, Liv Tyler, Debbie Harry, Evan Dando, David Patrick Kelly, Marian Quinn, Zandy Hartig, Meg Hartig, George Alvarez
Screenplay by: James Mangold
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: Michael F. Barrow
Film Editing by: Meg Reticker
Costume Design by: Sara Jane Slotnick
Set Decoration by: Kara Cressman
Art Direction by: Daniel Goldfield
Music by: Thurston Moore
MPAA Rating: R for language and a scene of sexuality.
Distributed by: Cinépix Film Properties
Release Date: June 5, 1996
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