I saw Living in Oblivion at the Moving Image museum. It’s a 1995 indie comedy about a film director (Steve Buscemi) trying to make his first feature, and everything going wrong. Spoiled takes, flubbed lines, technical problems, primadonna actors, etc. I had seen some of it before, and in its entirety, it’s a hilarious movie, with Buscemi looking pop-eyed and ready to crack at any second while trying to keep his cool and assuage other people’s egos to get his movie made.
The film within a film doesn’t make any sense, with the scenes not seeming to belong in the same movie, with a mother/daughter family drama scene about abuse; a romantic lovers’ scene about pining from afar; and a surreal dream sequence. It just adds to the absurdity that the plot of this whole movie isn’t ever fully explained, and doesn’t make sense in full context.
Catherine Keener was just fantastic in this film. I loved how her character was a struggling actress with raw talent who felt like she was only recognized for a shower scene in a Richard Gere movie, and feels a mix of insecurity while still having a natural confidence in her film within a film scenes. Keener was just great at bringing a mix of sensitivity and lived experience to the role. Besides her, I also liked the actress who plays Buscemi’s mom, a woman with possible Alzheimer’s who wandered off from her assisted living home and randomly gets in the way of the film set, to the worry and frustration of her director son, only to end up being an unexpected saving grace.
Also, weirdly enough, I found Buscemi attractive in this movie. The guy has a squirrely-looking face and a dirtbag-sounding voice, but I still found him attractive anyway, go figure.
No comments:
Post a Comment