Love Liza (2002) is one of the most depressing yet satisfying films I’ve seen in years. The film is directed by Todd Louiso [the skinny guy that works in the record shop in High Fidelity] and stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Wilson Joel. In my opinion, this is Hoffman’s best performance yet, that out of a career thus far filled with stellar performances.

Wilson is a web designer who is struggling to deal with the recent “unexplained” suicide of his beloved wife. Wilson has support at hand from his boss and co-worker, and even his mother-in-law, played by Kathy Bates. Despite this, Wilson simply cannot shake the regret, the uneasy feelings of loss, sadness and anger. Eventually, in an attempt to escape his misery, Wilson seeks to numb himself of his emotions, turning to the cheap and convenient addiction of sniffing gasoline fumes after witnessing some local kids getting high off of a gas can. As he dabbles from one source of fumes to another, Wilson discovers an unlikely source of distraction in remote-control model airplanes, as a result of sniffing model glue. The prying question of the film however, is whether Wilson will ever recover from this tragedy. The story does hold one heart-breaking twist when his mother-in-law presents him with something he has longed for.

This bitter-sweet drama is not a movie to take lightly. Its powerfully emotional punch strikes deeply and will certainly pull at your strings more than once. Love Liza is often both difficult to watch and even more difficult to stop watching. If you’re interested in seeing an honest uncompromising indie movie, give this little-known gem a chance.