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Movie review: ‘Hesher’

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt isn’t playing an uninvited guest so much as a manifestation of chaotic grief in “Hesher,” told from the point of view of a 13-year-old boy (Devin Brochu) whose struggle to overcome the sudden death of his mother is upended by the imposed arrival of the titular character.

Gordon-Levitt’s long-haired, chain-smoking, often-shirtless metal-head squatter and his prankishly, profanely violent antics initially go unremarked on by young TJ’s catatonic father (Rainn Wilson) and lonely grandmother (Piper Laurie). But they eventually serve as a wake-up call to the whole household that any kind of action is more emotionally healing than inaction.

It’s not the most complex message a movie about mourning could offer, and at times “Hesher” flirts with being the type of misery parade as taxing in indies as relentless sunniness is in studio movies.

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But director Spencer Susser, who wrote the film with David Michod, has a kinetic filmmaking style and an impish, crash-and-burn sense of humor that keeps sentiment at bay long enough to let us appreciate the loose, uncomplicated performances from a cast that includes suddenly ubiquitous Oscar winner Natalie Portman as a cash-strapped store clerk who befriends TJ.

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