Living in Oblivion (1995)

One thing after another goes wrong on the set of a low budget movie in this film about filmmaking starring Steve Buscemi as the frustrated director at the heart of the tale. From the premise alone, 'Living in Oblivion' might sound like a rather straightforward comedy, but it is actually far from it with a narrative full of twists and turns and some effective cinematic touches, such as all the 'reality' scenes appearing in black and white with only the film-within in colour during the first section of the movie. Writer-director Tom DiCillo's script is hardly airtight with some aspects of the film not really making sense in light of the twists, but in general the twists work very well to further the film's ultimate portrait of how difficult it is to film one particular type of sequence in a credible manner. Also impressive is the attention given to the thoughts and feelings of almost all of the cast and crew characters, each of whom have their own ideas of how to improve the movie they are working on, with Buscemi madly juggling every opinion in a somewhat futile attempt to keep everyone working and happy. James Le Gros tends to get a lot of praise here for his portrait of the comically super-arrogant leading man in Buscemi's film, however, Catherine Keener is just as effective in an early career turn; same goes for Peter Dinklage and his annoyance over being stereotyped.

This is a low budget film about making a low budget film by a guy who seems to always make low budget films. What this film reveals to us is not only the problems and the stress that comes about with all film making, but that which is generally connected with making low budget films.What sets low budget films apart from other normal films is that because there is a huge limit on funds available, other things are needed to draw the crowds, such as real characters and experimental filming techniques. This film begins in black and white, but when the filming begins, the film switches to colour. In the next section, it is the opposite, with the normal sequences being in colour and the filming sequences in black and white.Living in Oblivion is divided into three parts, and each of these parts a different scene is being filmed. The whole goal of this movie is that a scene in the movie is filmed, and Nick (Steve Buschemi), the director, seems to always run into problems when the filming begins. The way DiCillo makes the movie, which is very similar to what he did in Johnny Suede, leaves you wondering what is real and what is not. He is very clever with his dream sequences as they are indistinguishable from reality, except that everything ends up destroyed. Yet, the dream sequence in the film that is being made is the opposite, with smoke machines and dwarfs.The lead actors in the film are also important. One is a struggling actress who only did a shower scene in a Richard Geare movie. The famous actor is a complete snob and wants everything done his way, and he prances around acting as if he owned the entire movie. It seems that DiCillo is making a comment about actors who think that they make movies and without them the movie wouldn't exist. It is interesting that a Hollywood writer said that there is no such thing as a bankable product, and just because an actor is popular, doesn't mean that he is going to make millions from a movie.Living in Oblivion is a type of movie that I like because it focuses on characters and the relationships that cause problems. The director is not afraid to experiment, nor make comments about people, such as famous actors. Mostly, he tries to reveal to us what it really is like on a set of a low budget movies, and the problems that they face.

Nick (Steve Buscemi) is directing a low-budget film called Living in Oblivion, that is having a lot of problems during the filming. When the crew is ready the actors can't remember their lines and when the actors are making the scene in a superb way the camera isn't filming. Things like that are even in Nick's dreams and in the dreams of his main actress, Nicole (Catherine Keener), so Nick must deal with the problems of making low-budget films."Living in Oblivion", the second film written & directed by Tom DiCillo, is one of the most original films that i have ever seen and is an hilarious and strange low-budget comedy about low-budget film-making. The film is divide in three parts showing the dreams of Nick and Nicole and one real scene of Nick's film. But is all fun with this director and his bizarre crew dealing with a Hollywood star (James LeGros) who wants to change the film and with the mother of Nick (Laurel Thomby) who is interfering with the filming. The dreams are just how Nick and Nicole would love to deal with a problematic situation like that, Nick insulting everyone and Nicole ruining the Hollywood star and falling in love with Nick. But for me the most surrealistic sequence is actually the real one of the film with Nick's mother acting better than the real actors.Basically the plot is really simple, showing a lot of takes of the three different scenes but there is always a different detail for every single take and a different reaction of the great characters, you will be asking: now, what's next? what could f*ck more the film of Nick?The cast is just superb; for me this role ranks in Steve Buscemi's top five, and that's a really difficult decision because he is an amazing actor with many memorable characters like Mr. Pink, Donny or Seymor from "Reservoir Dogs", "The Big Lebowski" and "Ghost World". I really love this character that was based upon Buscemi's own experiences during his first attempts of making his debut film "Trees Lounge". The supporting cast is amazing too, with the lovely Catherine Keener as a not very famous actress who's major recognition was a shower scene in a Richard Gere film. James LeGros is really funny as Chad Palomino, the Hollywood star who works with Nick just because he think Nick was tight with Quentin Tarantino. And Dermot Mulroney as Wolf, the loyal camera man who is always supporting Nick.Conclusion: Tom DiCillo was used to this kind of situations due to the difficult filming of his debut film, in "Living in Oblivon" he creates an hilarious parody of low- budget films that all the cinema lovers must check. This film is one my personal favourites of the 90's and maybe ever and is a gem of low- budget film-making. 10 out of 10DVD: this film is practically unknown in Mexico so i have to order this DVD. Is a single edition with some bonus like comments of Buscemi and interviews with DiCillo and Buscemi. In cases like this one, to can watch a film like this is just enough.

Steve Buscemi plays a character named Nick, a frazzled, stressed out director trying to make a low-budget independent film, in this fictional movie from real-life director Tom DiCillo. It's an insider's look at the world of film-making, wherein everything that can go wrong on a set does go wrong, from actors who forget their lines, to unwanted, extraneous noise, to fragile egos among the various "stars". The film clearly makes the point that life on set of an independent film is tedious, grueling, and frustrating.The film starts off in B&W, then changes to color, then switches back and forth between B&W and color. Most of the scenes are indoors, and consist of simple, basic film sets; there are almost no outdoor shots. Parts of the plot consist of various dream sequences; this can get a tad confusing, but I guess it really doesn't matter, since the entire story is a fantasy anyway; one might even construe this ambiguity as a homage to Fellini's classic film "8 1/2"."Living In Oblivion" is billed as a comedy. Indeed, there are some funny segments as, for example, when Chad Palomino (you gotta love that phony Hollywood name), the hotshot stud with the huge ego, tries to out-direct the director. On the other hand, the film's plot can be irksome when it becomes repetitive. Numerous "takes" of the same scene not only are frustrating for Nick; they're frustrating to us viewers as well.This film gets points from me for being different. I also like the film's theme of crew collaboration. Overall, "Living In Oblivion" makes a good effort at showing what life is like on a movie set. That's a perspective that most outsiders probably will find interesting.