Love Liza

Aroview: Freshly widowed after his wife’s suicide, Phillip Seymour Hoffman staggers through and downward in an endearingly wacky yet affecting portrait of grief, scripted by the Hoffman’s brother, Gordy.

Sparring with his unpredictable mother-in-law (Bates) and a model-plane fanatic friend, Hoffman mainly drowns his sorrows by sniffing petrol in a terrific performance which typifies his sadsack screen persona. May alienate some viewers with its lack of incident and its somewhat bizarre affliction, but it's unusually compelling, with graceful photography and a pop-folk soundtrack by Jim O’Rourke ensuring the material doesn't stay too downbeat.

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