Customer Reviews

Living In Oblivion

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This movie is so well-crafted and funny I'd recommend it to anyone. If, however, you've ever been involved in independent film, you'll find it even more hilarious. It's so dead-on at capturing all the headaches, squabbles, technical nightmares, bad food, and creative frustrations inherent in most low-budget filmmaking, you'll laugh even as you relive the pain.

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

"Living in Oblivion" is one of those unassuming, low-circulation titles that make you wish your fellow citizens had more taste in cinema because then perhaps Hollywood would try making smarter films more often. Although, at the same time, you're almost glad they don't so you can hoard all these great movie experiences for yourself. The movie, in a nutshell, is about the agony and frustration of trying to make a low-budget film about a woman who was abused as a child and who is about to get married to someone she works with. Steve Buscemi, as the director, tries his damnedest to get the scenes to work, but instead is stymied at every turn: technical difficulties; incompetence by his crew; personal problems with his actors and the his crew; an obnoxious dwarf; and of course, past-its-expiration-date milk. It's these annoyances and hindrances that bring out the best scenes in the movie -- the "real" movie and the "in-production" movie. Buscemi gets to do a couple of his signature explosive outrages, like the Tasmanian Devil, only more coherent and quite a bit angrier (and less hair). Catherine Keener, one of the most underrated actresses in the business today, is smartly sensitive yet brutally honest with her feelings; not quite as sarcastically vicious as she was in "Being John Malkovich" or "Death to Smoochy". Those two actors were ostensibly the reason I originally saw the movie, but I bought the DVD due to the movie's originality, cleverness and humor as a whole. The special features include a few deleted scenes (including one great musical bit with the dwarf actor, Peter Dinklage), and a college film class interview with Dicillo and Buscemi. A screen gem that will have you alternately roaring with laughter and appreciating the way a movie can hit your emotions and your mind in such a sweet, unsuspecting way.

I saw this movie in film class and loved it. Steve Buschemi became my favorite actor partly because of this movie. Go see it, and if you don't want to pay 20 bucks (which it IS worth), go rent it from blockbuster. You have to watch this movie at least once.

I normally do not enjoy movies about the making of movies, so I was very pleasantly surprised to be thoroughly entertained by 'Living in Oblivion'. The reason I took the chance at all was due to the presence of Catherine Keener, one of our most overlooked and under-appreciated Hollywood actresses. She once again did not disappoint, but the entire cast was extremely good. You get a real education on the frustrations and challenges involved with making a low budget film. Buscemi is also right on target as the stessed out director. The Amazon reviews are for the most part positive about this film and for good reason. I'm glad to join my fellow Amazonians in heaping praise on this low budget gem.

I am one of the few people that actually saw this movie in a theater...I had no idea what to expect and I came away from the movie completely satisfied. It is an Indpendent film worthy of being a true hollywood blockbuster!

It is hilariously comedic, amazing chemistry and wonderful characters, and the plot twists are amazing too! It is a roller-coaster ride and allows you to enjoy the nightmare (literally) of making a low budget movie...it bears itself for the viewer to laugh at them and laugh at their angst...I cannot recommend this film enough - it has marvelous timing and style! Steve B. is awesome in it...

An education in filmmaking disguised as a love/hate note to independent cinema production. Will make you either fall in love with actors or wish they could all be replaced by computers! NOTE: Make sure you get the right version! The inexpensive version I got off Amazon Marketplace (rated Canadian Home Video 14A) didn't include director Tom DiCillo's great commentary.

I had the pleasure of viewing this in a cinema series run by my local college, and it is a must-see for anyone who loves film, makes films, or studies the process of filmmaking. The story centers on a trio of scenes being filmed in a low-budget movie: the first is a mock of an Lifetime Original movie, the second is a beautiful film noir/detective type scene, and the final scene being filmed is a intentionally freaky "dream sequence" that would be right up David Lynch's alley. Each is a larger than life cariacature of the type of movie being portrayed, full of movie stereotypes. You have an overly dramatic eye-patch wearing director of photography, an actress famous for a Richard Gere shower scene who is trying to keep her life and career together, a completely obnoxious leading man who tries to re-do every scene so it focuses more on him (he also preys on the women on the set), a small person who rails against the fact that he's being used to make a dream extra-freaky, and many more unforgettable characters.

The first third of this movie (in black & white) was originally filmed as a stand-alone piece, and it received such critical acclaim that DiCillo got everyone back together many months later to turn it into a full-length film. You can see some differences between the first vignette and the following two.

The acting in this movie is superb, especially by Buscemi and Keener. As I said, there are a plethora of movie set jokes that any film student or filmmaker would enjoy. I've never been on a movie set, though, and I still found it hilarious, so the jokes are very accessible.

The talents I am talking about, of course, are the director Tom Di Cillo ("Moonlight in a Box"), subsequently infamous amongst the 'independent crowd', and the star, Steve Buscemi, who here once again proves that he is one of the most versatile character actors working today. The result of these two individuals working together, a comedy about making indie films called "Living in Oblivion", is one of the funniest and intelligent motion pictures of the 1990s.
Most comedies nowadays either rely on dumb physical humor (celebrities: grimace, puke, punch, scream, trip'n'fall...) or on recycled situational gags ("Welcome to Mooseport"?!) Genres like romantic comedies are sickeningly predictable (Richard Curtis/ Hugh Grant, anyone?) and sentimental. Spoofs like "Scary Movie" refer frequently to the more-successful slapstick of the Abraham/Zuckers' "Airplane!" (1980) or other earlier and funnier stabs at eccentric wit (Mel Brooks).
What we have nowadays, ladies and gents, is Robert De Niro hamming it WELL up in the gruesomely exploitative "Analyze That"; Eddie Murphy counting his paycheck in "Daddy Day Care" (where it's sporadically puked on by an annoying eight-year-old twerp) and "The Haunted Mansion" (where the paycheck should have been snatched away by Terence Stamp, who definitely got a lot less dough for the project than 'Axel', but tries a lot harder to save it from drowning in its own poop). It is a delight for us film-lovers to witness a comedy that is not desperate and/or indifferent in its attempts to make its audiences laugh, a comedy that is honest and certain of its genuinely witty concept, a comedy that is inspired rather than expired. "Living in Oblivion" is that kind of comedy.
The film's 1995 theatrical release was unimpressive due to the picture's low-budget, and a central theme that withheld limited appeal. In my opinion, neither of those factors should prevent an average film-goer with a developed sense of wit to enjoy Tom Di Cillo's little masterpiece. Despite the fact that it focuses on the intricacies and hardships of independent filmmaking, the topic is just as accessible as any story contemporary Hollywood has to offer ("Bowfinger"...). One does not have to possess knowledge of all technical aspects of producing a motion picture to appreciate the film's humor.
From the first nightmare dream sequence that Steve Buscemi's director has, the audience is hooked: everything goes wrong in each hilarious take, shot in color as opposed to the dream's black-and-white reality. Just when it threatens to stretch too long, the director wakes up (in color) and proceeds to his film shoot (in black-and-white). The dream sequence serves as an introduction of all the quirky crew members, including Dermot Mulroney's eye-patched DoP and Catherine Keener's emotional actress. The resulted nightmare is a premonition of events to get even more horrible in reality, supplemented by the established 'color switch' wackiness. And they do get worse.
Slapstick may play a part in this film, but what makes it different from the forced obnoxiousness of Rob Schneider crap is how effortlessly it is handled by the cast, which makes the slapstick a natural consequence of built-up, razor-sharp insightful humor. The script avoids cliche and pathos - it keeps the film down in reality, which allows certain character exaggerations (the blonde arrogant film star...he is by far one of the funniest single characters in film history). Steve Buscemi shamelessly adopts yet another identity - where is his "funny-lookin'" thug from "Fargo", or the geeky Mr. Pink from 'Reservoir Dogs"? In "Living in Oblivion", Steve Buscemi runs the show as the exasperated director, who has to maintain absolute tranquility with his cast and crew. Buscemi's gradual loss of cool is something to marvel. As for the rest of the cast, it is simply flawless, each character a developed individual worthy of his own feature film.
Tom Di Cillo's brilliant entrance into the filmmaking arena has everything a comedy needs: tight dialogue, witty actors who understand and aspire to their script, sublime direction that does not distract but has style, and, most importantly, the appreciation of its audience's expectations. "Living in Oblivion" respects humanity's need to laugh. I just wish that the rest of "The Dream Factory" wouldn't underestimate that need, and stop living in oblivion.

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.