How Heavy This Hammer

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How Heavy This Hammer

2015

1h 15m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

12 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

A family man who spends his time playing video games decides to change his life by leaving his wife.

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

The Blue Lenses

In his tale of repressed game-addicted dad Erwin (Erwin Van Cotthem), Radwanski looks not for a simple tabloid scapegoat, but digs deeper into what drives a middle-aged, middle-class man to near-paralysing regression.

Aug 25, 2018

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Glenn Kenny

New York Times

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.

Feb 16, 2017

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Barry Hertz

Globe and Mail

Radwanski creates a visceral, impossible-to-ignore document of one man's fraught reality. It is creative, bold and even dangerous filmmaking.

Rated: 3.5/4

Aug 12, 2016

Full Review

C.J. Prince

Way Too Indie

Despite the lack of a clear resolution to Erwin's conflicts in How Heavy This Hammer, the film remains a fascinating study of a character trying to break free of his own cycles of stagnation.

Rated: 7.5/10

May 30, 2019

Full Review

Angelo Muredda

Cinema Scope

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.

Nov 13, 2017

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Mary Angela Rowe

Seventh Row

Canadian director Kazik Radwanski's sophomore feature How Heavy This Hammer is a sympathetic yet unsentimental portrait of contemporary masculinity in crisis.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 14, 2017

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Kazik Radwanski

Director

Kate Ashley

Actor

Erwin Van Cotthem

Actor

Seth Kirsh

Actor

Virgil Howarth

Scott

Liz Taylor

Liz

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Synopsis

A family man who spends his time playing video games decides to change his life by leaving his wife.

Director: Kazik Radwanski
Producer: Daniel Montgomery, Kazik Radwanski
Screenwriter: Kazik Radwanski
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 24, 2017
Runtime: 1h 15m