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Love Liza
Studio: Columbia/Sony Classics
Year: 2002
Rated: R
Film Length: 90 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16X9 Enhanced Widescreen (1.85:1)
Subtitles: French, Portugese, Hindi & Spanish
A Comic Tragedy
It was films like Boogie Nights (1997), and
Almost Famous (2000) that made me a fan of
Philip Seymour Hoffman, an actor that has made a name
for himself playing some of the most dysfunctional
characters in movie history.
In Love Liza, the actor takes on his darkest
role to date playing Wilson Joel, a man whose wife
has just killed herself and left a sealed letter
behind. As a result of this suicide, Wilson becomes
numbed beyond all belief, wandering aimlessly around
getting trashed huffing gasoline.
The suicide letter remains unopened for most of
the film. Wilson does not want to read it for
fear of what contents may lie inside. His strong-
willed mother-in-law (Kathy Bates), going through
her own untellable grief over the loss of her
daughter, wants the note read. When Wilson suddenly
disappears, she's becomes terribly concerned about
Wilson's whereabouts and frantically tries to
discover where he might be.
The rest of the film deals with Wilson's obsession
with gasoline huffing. He takes up a hobby of
flying model airplanes after he learns that the
fuel for model airplanes is stronger than the
gasoline he has been sticking his nose into at
the local pumps. Though the actor receives support
from well-meaning folks along the way, it only
seems to complicating things more causing the
distraught Wilson to go off the deep end.
Hoffman once again proves his acting versatility
by giving us a performance full of sensitivity
and depth. The problem is, the entire 90 minutes
of this film becomes a hallucinatory downer about
a man's grievance, his gasoline huffing addiction,
and spiraling downfall. It's not that I am being
unsympathetic to anyone who has ever had a similar
hardship, but there is nothing likeable about this
film, thus making it very difficult to grasp onto.
How is the transfer?
I don't know how this film originally looked, but
I'll give Columbia the benefit of doubt that this
an accurate transfer of what was shown theatrically.
Love Liza is generally not a pleasing visual
experience. The transfer often looks as depressed
as the film itself -- full of murky images and
lots of film grain that may or may not be intentional.
Images tend to be on the soft side, resulting in a
loss of detail. There are also small amounts of
picture blemish scattered throughout. Oddly, there
are times the film transfer actually becomes more
normalized sporting improved picture sharpness. The
film is often quite colorful and well saturated though
flesh tones can go from looking very normal to overly
red. Nothing more or less than I would expect from a
low-budget independent film.
The film's 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack adds a bit
of liveliness that is missing from the visuals.
Audio is full of good dynamics with the fronts
displaying pleasing imaging and stereo separation.
The rear channels provide ambient sounds of city
life as well as supporting the film's alternative
pop ballad score.
Special Features
A full-length commentary features director
Todd Louiso, writer Gordy Hoffman and actor Philip
Seymour Hoffman. The only piece of information
that stuck in my mind after sampling this commentary
was that the film took 5 years to finance and 24
days to shoot. I hate to say it, but listening to
this commentary was about as dull as watching the
film. I have the utmost respect for all the
individuals involved in the making of this film, but
this commentary really never elevates itself above
being self-congratulatory. Everyone seems to be
complimenting each other throughout, and though
the crew does give a little further insight into
the action occurring on screen, none of it makes
for a very enjoyable listen.
In addition to the film's original theatrical
trailer, there are trailers here for Punch-
Drunk Love, Adaptation and Big Shot's Funeral.
There are also Filmographies listed for both
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Bates.
Final Thoughts
While most everyone will agree that Philip Seymour
Hoffman gives an impeccable performance here, Love
Liza is an awkward misfire that's just painful
to sit through.
Recommended only as a rental to fans of Hoffman.
Release Date: May 27, 2003
All screen captures have been further compressed.
They are for illustrative purposes only and do not
represent actual picture quality
