How Heavy This Hammer | |
---|---|
Directed by | Kazik Radwanski |
Written by | Kazik Radwanski |
Produced by | Daniel Montgomery Kazik Radwanski |
Starring | Erwin Van Cotthem |
Cinematography | Nikolay Michaylov |
Edited by | Ajla Odobasic |
Production company | MDFF |
Release date |
|
Running time | 75 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
How Heavy This Hammer is a 2015 Canadian drama film directed by Kazik Radwanski. The film had its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and its international premiere at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. [1]
Erwin is slowly drifting from familial normalcy into complete oblivion. A husband and father of two, he'd rather spend his evenings playing computer games in solitude than with his concerned wife and increasingly abandoned sons. He idles in his office toiling at his computer and playing rugby on the weekends as his marriage and relationships disintegrate.
During its festival run, it received generally favorable reviews from critics. [2]
Adam Cook in a dispatch to Brooklyn Magazine wrote "Radwanski’s sensitive and empathetic approach effectively brings the viewer into this mundanity and helping us understand the silent pressures and tensions of this unremarkable man and his existential woes." [3]
Angelo Muredda for Cinema Scope said "In just two features and several shorts, co-conceived with producing partner Dan Montgomery, Radwanski has proven himself a gentler, Southern Ontarian answer to Dardennes-style social realism, finding dignity and pathos in the repetitive rhythms and small pleasures of working-class lives." [4]
Mubi Notebook editor Daniel Kasman observed "Such a small story, such an average person to spend time with—this is something no television show would attempt, no mid-tier festival film dare gamble their eligibility for an audience award on. Yet here it is: quiet, a bit pensive, a bit mysterious, and never less than thoughtful. The kind of film you love to discover at a festival."
However, not all reviews were positive during its festival run; The Hollywood Reporter deemed it "an aggressively dreary look at a man who shouldn't have had a family". [5]
During its Canadian theatrical run, the film was met with critical acclaim; it was ultimately nominated for Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2016, though it did not win. [6]
The National Post named it "a must-see this week when it opens theatrically in Vancouver and Toronto," [7] The Toronto Star praised its "unique combination of empathy and scorn," [8] NOW Magazine said "Radwanski packs a lot of angst into his slim running time," [9] Exclaim! stated it was "one of the very best Canadian films of the year," [10] and The Globe and Mail called it "raw and engrossing." [11]
When the film had a theatrical run in New York in 2016, it was met with mixed reviews: The New York Times wrote that "whatever investigation it’s attempting, the movie is leaden in its pacing — the first 15 minutes feel like an hour — and its constricted shooting style, practically all hand-held almost close-ups, is transparent in its contrivance of realism." [12] Meanwhile, The Village Voice proclaimed that it was, "Striking, clear-eyed, and very, very funny, it's been justly celebrated as one of the best Canadian films in years." [13]
How Heavy This Hammer currently holds a 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews. [14]
The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, founded in 1976 and taking place each September. It is also a permanent destination for film culture operating out of the TIFF Lightbox cultural centre, located in Downtown Toronto.
Bruce McDonald is a Canadian film and television director, writer, and producer. Born in Kingston, Ontario, he rose to prominence in the 1980s as part of the loosely-affiliated Toronto New Wave.
Exclaim! is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 issues per year, distributing over 103,000 copies to over 2,600 locations across Canada. The magazine has an average of 361,200 monthly readers and their website, exclaim.ca, has an average of 675,000 unique visitors a month.
Small Town Murder Songs is a 2010 Canadian neo-noir crime film directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 14, 2010. The film is written by Gass-Donnelly, produced by Gass-Donnelly and Lee Kim, and stars Peter Stormare, Jill Hennessy, and Martha Plimpton.
Fortunate Son is an autobiographical feature documentary film by Tony Asimakopoulos, a Canadian film director of Greek origin. The film was released in 2011 and produced by Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross and Bob Moore of the Montreal-based film production company, EyeSteelFilm. The film is in English and Greek, with subtitles in English and French. As Asimakopoulos' first documentary, the film has been called "A searing documentary about family" by Liz Braun of the Toronto Sun, as well as "[...] a story of what binds families together, and what it means to be loved" by Daniel Pratt of Exclaim!.
North Country Cinema is a Canadian media arts collective based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Albert Shin is a Canadian filmmaker, best known for his critically acclaimed Canadian Screen Award-nominated films In Her Place (2014) and Disappearance at Clifton Hill (2019). He works frequently with collaborator Igor Drljaca.
O, Brazen Age is a Canadian dramatic film, completed in 2015. The feature-length debut by writer/director Alexander Carson, the film premiered at the 2015 Vancouver International Film Festival in September 2015.
Matt Johnson is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. He first attracted accolades for his low-budget independent feature films, including The Dirties (2013), which won Best Narrative Feature at the Slamdance Film Festival, and Operation Avalanche (2016), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kazik Radwanski is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. His early short films have been cited as part of the New Canadian Cinema movement. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2012 with Tower. His second feature film, How Heavy This Hammer (2015), screened at film festivals around the world and received critical acclaim.
Sofia Bohdanowicz is a Canadian filmmaker. She is known for her collaborations with Deragh Campbell and made her feature film directorial debut in 2016 with Never Eat Alone. Her second feature film, Maison du Bonheur, was a finalist for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award at the 2018 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. That year, she won the Jay Scott Prize from the Toronto Film Critics Association. Her third feature film, MS Slavic 7, which she co-directed with Campbell, had its world premiere at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival in 2019. She has also directed several short films, such as Veslemøy's Song (2018) and Point and Line to Plane (2020).
The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 September 2019. The opening gala was the documentary film Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, directed by Daniel Roher, and the festival closed with a screening of the biographical film Radioactive, directed by Marjane Satrapi.
Kuessipan is a Canadian drama film, directed by Myriam Verreault and released in 2019. An adaptation of Naomi Fontaine's eponymous novel, the script was co-written by Fontaine and Verreault. Its plot centres on Mikuan and Shaniss, two young Innu women in Uashat-Maliotenam, whose friendship is strained when Mikuan falls in love with a white man and plans to move away.
Anne at 13,000 Ft. is a 2019 Canadian drama film. Directed and written by Kazik Radwanski, the film stars Deragh Campbell as Anne, a shy, socially awkward daycare worker whose attitude to her life and work is radically transformed after she skydives for the first time. It premiered in the Platform Prize program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, and received an honourable mention from the Platform Prize jury. In December 2019, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list. After premiering on the festival circuit in 2019, the film's 2020 theatrical release was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tower is a 2012 Canadian drama film, written and directed by Kazik Radwanski. Radwanski's feature directorial debut, the film follows a socially awkward Torontonian named Derek. The film had its world premiere at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival, followed by its North American premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.
Cutaway is a 2014 Canadian drama short film, written and directed by Kazik Radwanski. Told entirely without spoken dialogue, the film depicts a day in a man's life entirely through a close focus on his hands, including his performance of physical labour and text conversations with his girlfriend.
Deragh Campbell is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her acclaimed performances in independent Canadian cinema. Her collaborations with filmmaker Sofia Bohdanowicz—Never Eat Alone (2016), Veslemøy's Song (2018), MS Slavic 7 (2019), and Point and Line to Plane (2020)—have screened at film festivals internationally. Campbell has also starred in three of Kazik Radwanski's feature films; she played a small role in How Heavy This Hammer (2015), the lead role in Anne at 13,000 Ft. (2019), and opposite Matt Johnson in Matt and Mara (2024).
Dorothea Paas is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Toronto, Ontario, whose debut album Anything Can't Happen was a longlisted nominee for the 2021 Polaris Music Prize.
Matt and Mara is a Canadian drama film, directed by Kazik Radwanski and slated for release in 2024. The film stars Deragh Campbell as Mara, a university professor in a troubled marriage who unexpectedly reconnects with Matt, a man from her past.