Cady's Take:

When Wilson's boss Maura becomes confused by the strong smell of gas inside his house. Wilson covers up his addiction by pretending he's a model airplane enthusiast. This sets up a humorous descent into the bizarre world of radio control freaks.

Wilson also discovers that his late wife had left behind a suicide note that was neatly placed inside an envelope addressed to his attention. His mother-in-law, played by Kathy Bates, insists that he open the envelope because her deceased daughter may have mentioned her name. But as Wilson points out, the letter is not addressed to her.

It's not easy to embrace a film that tampers with sensitive and tricky subject matters such as suicide, alienation and mental deficiencies. But I really liked this movie. Depressing but rewarding, the experience of Love Liza is a difficult one to encapsulate. I don't know if the film has anything to say about grief, loneliness or survival, but it's successful in perfectly conveying a desperate man's fragile state of mind.

“Love Liza” is a powerfully sad and confusing movie that aches with pain and loss. Cady rented this movie for me and she made an excellent choice. Hoffman’s Wilson is in the throes of a massive depression after the suicide of his wife, Liza. When Wilson discovers a letter left by Liza, he cannot bring himself to open it. Liza’s mother Mary Ann (Bates) is desperate to know the contents and goes to some extreme lengths to hold on to her daughter’s memory. Wilson begins sniffing gasoline to dull his senses, and soon his world is consumed by getting high and blurring everything else away.

What is striking about this movie is how many scenes are absolutely, completely without dialogue. Kathy Bates has a few, but Philip Seymour Hoffman has many, and they are simply amazing. The part of Wilson was literally written for Philip Seymour Hoffman by his brother, screenwriter Gordy Hoffman, and we see (Philip) Hoffman once again embody his character so completely that we lose ourselves in his torment.

Wilson finds himself in a downward spiral as he attempts to hide his growing addiction to sniffing. He ends up taking up model airplanes (sort of) as a hobby to mask his possession of unusual amounts of fuel. Whether he opens the letter or not must be discovered only by watching the movie. “Love Liza” kept me guessing until the very end, and in a movie where “not a lot” happens (and by not a lot I mean no crashes, chases, sex scenes, or other big movie mechanics) that is a pleasant surprise.