cultfilms:

a young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. then he meets hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.

dir.: spencer susser
drama 
2010

joseph gordon-levitt as hesher
devin brochu as t.j.
rainn wilson as paul forney
piper laurie as grandma
natalie portman as nicole

some facts:

- elephants make several appearances in the film. rainn wilson’s character is watching a tv show about elephants and we hear them in the background, the car dealership has a large pink elephant on the roof and beside t.j’s bed there is a figurine of another elephant. 
- in the pool scene, hesher asks r2 to shut down all the trash compactors. this refers to r2-d2 from star wars. director spencer susser also directed a tv special short, r2-d2: beneath the dome (1992). 
- all of hesher’s “persona”, according to joseph gordon-levitt, is inspired by late bass player from metallica, cliff burton. not only that, but the movie features a significant amount of music from the “burton” era, including the solo that hesher plays in the garage (anesthesia, from the kill ‘em all album) and, of course, the hesher lettering. 
- most of the songs on the film’s soundtrack are tracks from american heavy metal band metallica and british hard rockers motorhead.
- hesher (slang/noun): a person who is a fan of, and displays the appearance of heavy metal or hard rock music. a male enthusiast of heavy metal music, particularly one who adopts the hair style and dress of his idols. the female equivalent is a hesher-chick.