Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 22, 2005 | | Summary | A million dollar movie | Content
 | Unlike Truffault's Day For Night, which examined the filming process of a high-profile movie, Living in Oblivion follows a lesser director, played by Buscemi, filming what looks like a pretty bad low-budget romantic drama.
There are many elements that stand out here. LeGros' portrayal of a macho self-absorbed actor rings truer than nature (and has shades of the satire of Zoolander), Keener is very good as a low-rent actress who gets that one great moment, and Buscemi is competent as always. Each part of the movie has a high point, including an embarassing scene where Keener listens in on a conversation between Buscemi and LeGros, a perfect moment missed by the cameraman, and a dwarf who makes pointed remarks about how the movies treat his stature.
Ironically, Living in Oblivion is itself a very low-rent movie, and it deals with this very well by restricting the environment. The important action is there and the acting is great. It really looks like a million dollar movie. Everything works. A high four stars. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 25, 2005 | | Summary | A MUST for film school students! | Content
| The Sundance film festival award winning comedy film depicts the process of making an independent/student film quite cleverly. Yet another "A movie about making a movie" sub-genre, written and directed by Tom DiCillo, I believe it his best film yet.
Sliced into three parts, the movie features the difficulties of film-making through the character's dreams. Yet, what is dream and what is real, you don't realize till they wake up.
Buscemi plays Nick Reve (Reve in french means Dream), the frustrated "trying to get it right" director, and you know by Murphy's Law that when he shouts "ACTION!" something will go wrong. It is amusing yet almost annoying as we get to be frustrated with Buscemi's character, and after that, it appears that it was just a dream.
The character of the arrogant actor Chad Palamino played by James LeGros, resembles Brat Pitt in appearance. It is said that Pitt was cast for this role, and since he was busy with another project, LeGros was chosen. Some say that Palamino's character might be Tom DiCillo's way of portraying Pitt's behavior on the set of his debut film "Johnny Suede" in 1991. Dicillo denies it.
The pearls of this film:
* The scene where Palamino shouts "The only reason I took this part was because someone said you were tight with Quentin Tarantino!", which is a role model for success in the indie film industry since Tarantino is the recent indie filmmaker that became a star director.
* The transition from monochrome to color and vice-versa as a difference between reality and film reality, a lovely gimmick.
* The 30 second "Room Tone" scene, where everybody is fantasizing about their life dream.
This film is a treat for filmmakers and in general a "fun" film. People who are not filmmakers will enjoy this film as well. The film is only 91 minutes and I wanted more. I give this movie 10/10 and just because it is so underrated in the majority of movie rating websites. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 31, 2005 | | Summary | Hostess twinky mother f**ker | Content
| This is a great movie. A tribute to all independent filmmakers. It's a stereotypical satire about a stereotypical low budget film shoot. The clapperboard, the week old milk and the obviously high camera focus guy. The movie portrayed frustration prefectly, not just frustration in making movies but in relationships and life overall.
As always Steve Buscemi is awesome. Buy this movie!!!! |
| Rating | | | Date | November 12, 2004 | | Summary | "Have you ever had a dream with a dwarf in it?" | Content
| Ever have a bad day at work? I mean a day where you wonder why you even bothered getting out from underneath the covers of your warm, cozy, comfortable bed? I suppose everyone has, and each job has its' own hardships to be dealt with, but the world of independent filmmaking seems to be a particularly harsh and difficult occupation, fraught with unique difficulties, requiring of those who masochistically toil within its' domain to survive not on a day to day basis, but from one scene to another, often having to compromise their artistic intent and vision to accommodate the necessity of completing production before the funding runs out.
Living in Oblivion (1995), written and directed by Tom DiCillo, who also did the earlier indie film Johnny Suede (1991), which starred a then not so well known actor named Brad Pitt (it's worth looking for, if you enjoy films of an extremely off-beat nature and want to see Brad Pitt sporting a coif the size of Rhode Island), stars Steve Buscemi (Reservoir Dogs, Ghost World), and Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich). Also appearing are Dermot Mulroney (About Schmidt), Danielle von Zerneck (La Bamba, My Science Project), and James LeGros (Phantasm II).
The film takes a humorous (to us, at least) look at hardships suffered upon Nick Reve (Buscemi) as he desperately tries to move forward his no budget film, focusing specifically on difficulties within his efforts to complete a couple of scenes of this seemingly ill-fated endeavor. Problems arise in the form of boom microphones in the shot, temperamental talent (actors, to you and me) missing their cues and/or marks and flubbing or forgetting their lines, out of focus cameras, exploding Fresnel (pronounced "fre-nel") lights (these are focusable spotlights used in film, television, and theatre), noisy sets and just the general boobery of an inexperienced (i.e. cheap), inept, or uncaring crew.
DiCillo really presents a very funny story here, one obviously based on his own, personal experiences as an independent filmmaker, given the level of detail including the usage of various industry terms and stereotypes (many stereotypes are based on some degree of truth). I thought all the actors appearing here did extremely well. Buscemi is great and completely believable as the frazzled director, trying to conceptualize his ideas to film, placating the emotional erratic actors and dealing with his bumbling and equally unstable production crew. Keener plays Nicole Springer, and actress whose career has seen better days (she's constantly referred to as that actress who had the shower scene in that Richard Gere movie) now stuck in independent movie hell, doubting her talents and abilities, usually requiring Nick to prop her up to continue. LeGros is wonderful Chad Palomino, a patently transparent, superficial, Hollywood pretty boy `slumming' between more prominent roles who continuously disrupts his scenes with `suggested' improvements, usually involving some inane idea ("Hey, what if I was wearing an eye patch?") or for himself to be more conspicuously displayed or highlighted within the scene, with Nick usually acquiescing in an effort to assuage the biggest name associated with his film. Next there's Wolf (Mulroney), the completely pretentious and overly sensitive cinematographer (beret and all) who's constantly second guessing Nick's perception of how the scenes should be shot. Last, but not least is Nick's AD (assistant director) Wanda, played by von Zerneck. I've read where people thought her portrayal was over-acted, but I'd have to disagree. If you've talked to anyone in the industry, they would probably tell you she acted exactly like an AD acts on the set of a film. She may have exaggerated her role a little bit, but most likely only because DiCillo instructed her to...an AD is basically the director's liaison between the crew and sometimes the cast. It's the AD's responsibility to communicate the director's instructions to all, ensuring everyone knows what's going on at all times, and also to be aware of everything that's happening on, and sometimes off, the set or location and keeping things on schedule. They take care of all the details that would take away from the director doing his/her job of, well, directing. I thought von Zerneck did very well, having to mollycoddle Nick while verbally whipping the crew, keeping them in line and on their toes. The more time wasted, the more production costs rise. The AD may not be the most popular person on the set, but they certainly serve a vital role. Scenes to watch for...when Nick, completely frustrated with his inability to get a scene shot without some sort of interruption or snafu occurring, explodes in a tirade all over the crew, going into extensive detail with regards to his perception of each of their faults with respect as to why the production isn't going as smoothly as planned...the scene where Chad Palomino causes numerous stoppages in filming as he interjects his own thoughts about the scene, oblivious to irritated crew...finally, the scene involving a dream sequence, featuring one rather angry dwarf named Tito, who Nicole accidentally refers to more than once as `Toto'...Tito's objections to typecasting become apparent during a diatribe directed at Nick...'Have you ever had a dream with a dwarf in it? Do you know anyone who's had a dream with a dwarf in it? No! I don't even have dreams with dwarves in them!'....my advice? If you're an independent filmmaker, be wary of how you use dwarves in your films.
The wide screen (1:85:1) picture provided on this DVD looks pretty good, and the audio is clear and crisp. Special features include an interview filmed before an audience with director DiCillo and Buscemi worth watching if you enjoyed the film. DiCillo outlines how the concept for the film came about, and Buscemi relates how he used his own directorial experiences in presenting the character of Nick, rather than basing off someone he's worked with...also included is a commentary track by DiCillo and a deleted scene.
Cookieman108
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| Rating | | | Date | March 30, 2004 | | Summary | HILARIOUS!!!! | Content
| This is one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. The only problem is you don't want it to end! Buscemi and LeGros are perfect! Buy this movie, Buy this Movie, Buy this Movie!!!!!!!! You won't regret it. |
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