Heavy Film Shown at Bayport-Blue Point Library

The burdens of weight are a heavy subject, portrayed in the film "LBS," which chronicled one man's struggle with weight loss- and some other heavy issues.

"LBS," created by actor and writer Carmine Famiglietti, was recently screened at . Famiglietti also played the film's main character, Neil.

Famiglietti created Neil to have many of the same issues as him: An overeating disorder, an overdramatic Italian mother and a friend (characterized in the movie as Sacco) who deals with his issues by turning to drugs. 

In Neil's "hometown" of New York City, he is introduced as a man with a larger-than-life personality that does not match his frumpy frame.  His hair is almost comically piled ontop of his head in an ode to Seinfeld's Kramer, and grey sweatpants are his daily uniform.

Then, Neil moves to the country to finally battle his weight issues and get respect from women and his family, which include a brother-in-law that relentlessly picks on him. He moves to a trailer in the woods for a year and learns to bicycle, eats sparingly and catches the eye of a beautiful country woman. 

However, when he returns to New York City his newly fit body and attractiveness to women have not cured the undeniable void he feels inside. In fact, he does not know what can fill the void for him other than food.

"I love eating, it fills the void. What can I say," Neil declares at one point. In order to attract investors to the film, Famiglietti says he had to lose weight, and fast because "there is a difference between Kevin James overweight and fat." 

So, Famiglietti got down to 315 lbs. before filming, and during the course of the movie as Neil dropped lbs, Famiglietti did too, dropping all the way to 215 when the movie wrapped 27 months later. Famiglietti kept the weight off until 2006.

The film may have ended, but Famiglietti has not found all the answer yet.

"I'm still searching. It's a constantly evolving journey," he said.

For a realistic and humane view of weight loss issues, you won't be disappointed with LBS, which was entered into the famed Sundance Film Festival.

Order your copy by visiting www.LBSTHEMOVIE.com.