Victor is a fat and somewhat withdrawn chef who spends his days making pizzas in his restaurant in the north of New York State. He maintains his dominant mother (a role by Shelley Winters) and makes her breakfast every morning. Every evening he has to listen to the conflicts between the fast-talking dyed- in-the-wool waitress Dolores (Debbie Harry) and Leo, who props up the local bar. Life is boring and depressing until a new waitress, Callie, is taken on at the restaurant. Callie is a beautiful and confused girl who has left school and is looking for new challenges. Victor and Callie feel attracted to each other; Victor is facing the greatest emotional conflict of his life. Director James Mangold: ‘I set out to tell a story about the place I grew up and the people I loved and admired. I set out to make a moving film. I tried to minimize the words, look away from the words, make the words inarticulate. I wanted performances delicate, gestures fragile, the shots and cuts precise but restrained. I worked aggressively from this very gentle palette of technique, I wanted Heavy to be stylized – as I believe Victor is, in his own way – but not flamboyant. Victor lives in a tender, romantic and almost musical universe, a universe at the margins of our highly verbal and attraction driven world.’
