Living in Oblivion (1995)

Lists

Ratings & comments

full starfull starfull starfull starempty star

Doing the email and blog rounds last week were videos of Lily Tomlin and David O. Russell flying off the handle][1] on the set of [I Heart Huckabees. Most commentators agree that one or both of them acted unprofessionally, but these things aren't unheard of. Film productions are difficult things, requiring large groups of people -- including several professionally inclined to be ego- and/or megalomaniacs -- to work together to meet tight deadlines while any and everything goes wrong around them.

Living in Oblivion is that process.

Nick Reve (Steve Buscemi) is making a low-budget independent film, struggling all the way with the unwanted creative input of cinematographer Wolf (Dermot Mulroney), the even less wanted creative input of empty-headed A-list star Chad (James LeGros) and his delusions of talent, the low self-esteem of Nicole (Catherine Keener), best known to the public for a nude shower scene in a Richard Gere movie, incompetent boom operators and more. It's enough to make you wonder why anyone would bother, but it has the ring of truth about it, and writer-director Tom DiCillo has enough experience on indie movie sets -- he worked as cinematographer on early Jim Jarmusch projects like Stranger Than Paradise -- to be intimately aware of the details.

It's tragic and extremely cynical, but also very affectionate. Film-making, the movie seems to suggest, is like a dream, with all the goodness that that implies -- but also all of the anxiety, the bizarre occurrences, and even the occasional shiny-suited, apple-holding dwarf. You couldn't give it up even if you tried.

- Sam - None