Hesheris a 2011 American "dark humor" drama film written and directed by Spencer Susser and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Rainn Wilson , and Natalie Portman . First screened at the Sundance Film Festival January 22, 2010, the film was released in the United States on May 13, 2011. Most of the songs on the film's soundtrack are tracks from American heavy metal band Metallica and British hard rockers Motörhead .

Following the loss of his mother in a car crash, T.J (Devin Brochu) falls into a state of depression, and social isolation. His pill popping father Paul ( Rainn Wilson ) and he live with T.J.'s elderly absent-minded grandmother Madeleine ( Piper Laurie ).

T.J. is emotionally attached to the wrecked car, follows it to the garage when it is towed away, and enters it without authorization. Young assistant Dustin is ordered to chase T.J. away, but T.J. hurts him by turning the window up. T.J. falls off his bicycle and angrily breaks a window of a house under construction. This disturbs a squatting resident named Hesher ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt ), who threatens T.J., but when a cop arrives, Hesher tosses an explosive out the window and flees.

After school, Dustin finds his car vandalized by an obscene drawing with a marker pen (presumably by Hesher, who gives such a pen to T.J.). Dustin assumes T.J. did it and goes after him. Nicole ( Natalie Portman ), a clerk, defends T.J. and gives him a ride home — where, to his surprise, Hesher walks in and makes himself at home. T.J. is disconcerted but unsure what to do about the intrusion; however Madeleine and Hesher get along well. Later that night during dinner, Madeleine remarks she would like T.J. to walk with her, and T.J. responds that he has to attend school. Hesher, irritated by T.J.'s defiance, states in his usual vulgar manner that a walk with his grandmother is more important than school, citing the danger of "granny rapists."

The next day at school, Dustin attacks T.J.; Hesher appears, but he does not defend him. Feeling betrayed, T.J. confronts Hesher about this, after which they go in the van to Dustin's house; Hesher sets Dustin's car on fire and leaves without T.J. The next morning, the police arrive to bring T.J. in for questioning, but no subsequent charges are filed due to lack of evidence.

The following day, T.J. goes to the supermarket where Nicole works to observe her, unbeknownst to him, Hesher had followed him there. After Nicole has finished her shift, Hesher and T.J. follow her in Hesher's van, until she hits another vehicle in a rear-end collision. Hesher scares off the other driver by pinning the blame on him, and subsequently offers a ride to Nicole because her car is broken. Once in the van, Hesher takes Nicole and T.J. to "his uncle's" house and the three swim. Once there, Hesher vandalizes the place and leaves suddenly. After T.J. and Nicole realize Hesher lied about it being his uncle's house, they walk back to Nicole's car. Nicole finds a parking ticket on her car, which upsets her very much: she has a part-time job and is not allowed to work full-time, and therefore does not earn enough to pay her bills, let alone a parking ticket.

T.J. uses Madeleine's credit card to withdraw money from her account at ATMs, and tries to use it to buy the wrecked car back, but the owner of the garage tells him (as he did before) that it is not for sale. Later that night, T.J. and Paul get into an argument over dinner, in which Hesher is in the middle, where T.J. smashes his plate to the ground, and Paul cannot think of a better response than doing the same. Madeleine is saddened that there is 'nothing she can do', and goes to her room. Hesher teaches her how to smoke her medical marijuana from a bong, and promises to go on a walk with her in the morning. However, she dies that night.

Hesher, upset, runs off. T.J. has a crush on Nicole and goes to her apartment to give her the stolen money, but walks in on Hesher and Nicole having sex. T.J. is jealous and vandalizes Hesher's car, threatens to hit him, calls Nicole a 'fat prostitute', and rides off on his bike . He goes back to the house, and destroys all of Hesher's possessions, and takes a pair of cutting shears. T.J. goes to Dustin's house, where he threatens to cut off Dustin's toes if he doesn't tell where the wrecked car is. Dustin tells him that it in the junk yard, and pins T.J. to the ground. However, Hesher arrives and cuts his nose with the shears, and T.J., still bitter at Hesher, runs off, saying he never wants to see him again.

T.J. then goes to the junkyard to sit in the wrecked car (now atop many other junked cars) and falls asleep in the back seat. The next morning, the car is picked up and ready to be crushed, when T.J. falls through the windshield. Angry, T.J. watches the car crushed, and walks off bitterly. A few hours later, T.J. and Paul attend Madeleine's funeral, at which time Hesher, drinking a beer, tells the audience that one day he lost a testicle and was upset about it, but that he later was happy with his other testicle and penis being intact. Since he promised to walk with Madeleine he wheels her casket outside and down the road; an emotional T.J. and Paul join him.

The next day, Paul shaves and apparently is out of his depression, as a result of Hesher's talk. He shows T.J. the block that was his mother's car, that Hesher had procured from the junkyard and placed in the driveway. Hesher has disappeared, after painting on their roof "Hesher was here."