Heavy (1995)

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. 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. It has since had several home video releases, including two DVD releases which are both currently out of production.

Synopsis

The film begins at Pete and Dolly's, a small roadside diner/tavern in sleepy upstate New York, where thirty-something Victor (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is a cook employed by his mother, Dolly (Shelley Winters), the owner of the restaurant. Dolly spends most of her time sitting in a chair in the back of the kitchen, reminiscing about her late husband and antagonizing waitress Delores (Deborah Harry), a lonely woman who has worked at the restaurant for fifteen years, and also had a meaningless affair with Dolly's husband.

Actors