review: Love Liza

Actors of every diverse echelon of capacity have had certain scripts given to them that send them soaring like a gas powered remote controlled airplane into a different atmosphere of their ability. Philip Seymour Hoffman is finally becoming more and more evident to the everyday moviegoer due to his widely loved portrayal of the eccentric writer in Capote. While that recognition is deserved (and long overdue) I hope that it encourages viewers to discover some of Hoffman’s previously less noticed, but equally unbelievably fine work such as Happiness, Owning Mahowney, and Magnolia (among others). Nicolas Cage had Leaving Las Vegas. Mickey Rourke had Barfly. Philip Seymour Hoffman has Love Liza. This is an absolutely bare and valiant recital of a script written by his brother, Gordy Hoffman. The supporting cast is also magnificent and it all sums up to a melodic symphony of true emotionally melancholy substance that is indicative of humanness and rarely so well revealed in film. This is a sincere illustration of the complete package.