Hesher screened at Austin’s SXSW film fest a few months ago and writer/director Spencer Susser took the time to sit down with WGTC to discuss his film. We also spoke about his upcoming feature-length zombie apocalypse/romance film based on a short of his called I Love Sarah Jane. In Hesher, we follow an unstable drifter who violently inserts himself into a grieving boy’s life and home. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman star in this indie drama which is heavy on character studies and light on plot.
A strange, unpleasant film that lacks the tools to successfully get its point across; it knows what it wants to say but not what it wants to be. Full review by Chris Pandolfi.
Metro Times: For those not versed in dated mall lingo, a "hesher" was a particular breed of long-haired, pre-grunge headbanger, similar to a burnout; but usually distinguished by more grime and a nastier attitude. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has attitude in spades as the title character, a living personification of the scraggly social misfits who'd do donuts in suburban parking lots.
Detroit News: Hesher is a beautiful mess.
With his long, scraggly hair, skin-and-bones bod and obscene, amateurish tattoos, he looks like some heavy metal washout.
But then one of the beauties of "Hesher" is you never really know who he is, or where he came from. He's a wastoid of mystery.