http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118789/
United States, 1998
U.S. Release Date: beginning 6/26/98
Running Length: 1:50
MPAA Classification: R (Profanity, nudity, sexual situations, violence)
Cast: Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Anjelica Huston, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Roarke, Rosanna Arquette
Director: Vincent Gallo
Producer: Chris Hanley
Screenplay: Vincent Gallo and Alison Bagnall
Cinematography: Lance Acord
Music: Vincent Gallo
Weird and darkly comic, Buffalo '66 is the story of the redemption of one almost- unbearable character afflicted with a phobia about everything. Played by Vincent Gallo (Palookaville), who often essays lowlife individuals, Billy Brown is at the bottom of the human totem pole. He's violent, boorish, obsessive, angry, self- deluded, and unable to deal with intimacy. He has what are euphemistically called "issues," and, unlike many similar characters, he's not the least bit endearing. Gallo, who, in addition to starring in the movie, wrote it, directed it, and composed the music for it, has hinted that certain aspects of Buffalo '66 are autobiographical (particularly the dinner table interaction between Billy and his parents). If there's even a tenth of Billy in Gallo, "intense" would be an understatement in describing the man.
Following the film's premiere at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, Gallo remarked that one of the primary reasons he made Buffalo '66 was to give himself the opportunity to star opposite Christina Ricci. In fact, her casting is easily Gallo's most brilliant move, because she walks away with this film, acting circles around everyone else, including Anjelica Huston (her former Addams Family co-star), Ben Gazzara, and Gallo himself. Ricci, who plays the winsome, deeply-troubled, and highly insecure Layla, uses everything at her disposal -- dialogue, facial expressions, and body language -- to create a three-dimensional character out of the underwritten shell that exists in Gallo's script. Anyone who still doubts the young actress' ability, even in the wake of The Ice Storm and The Opposite of Sex, will be convinced by what she accomplishes here.
The film opens with a disheveled Billy walking out the door of the prison where he has been incarcerated for the past five years. Back in 1991, when the Buffalo Bills lost a nailbiter Superbowl to the New York Giants, Billy made the tactical error of betting $10,000 he didn't have on the game. So, when the kicker missed a last-second field goal, Billy found himself in a serious hole. To pay off the bookie (Mickey Roarke), he agreed to confess to a crime he didn't commit to let one of the gangster's friends off the hook. Now, with his time served, Billy finds himself on the outside again, unsure of what to do with himself.
He eventually ends up in Buffalo, looking for somewhere to go to the bathroom. His quest for a toilet leads him into a dance studio, where, in a moment of blind irrationality, he kidnaps a young student named Layla, who doesn't put up that much of a struggle. It seems that Layla, while sullen about the experience, really doesn't mind being kidnapped. Her level of self-esteem is so low that, on a certain level, she actually relishes the experience. Billy has grabbed her because he needs someone to play the role of his "wife" when he visits his parents. They think he's a secret agent with an adoring spouse, and he wants to look good in front of them. It doesn't matter to him that they're both weird -- Dad (Gazzara) always wants to eat and Mom (Huston), an obsessive Bills fan, never stops watching videotaped games on TV -- and that he doesn't like them. Layla agrees to play the part, and succeeds in the seemingly-impossible task of charming both parents. The rest of the film is about the two bonding as Billy contemplates whether or not he's going to put a bullet into the head of the former Bills' field goal kicker who lost the Superbowl.
There's no doubt that Gallo's approach is uneven. The film's high level of energy is undeniable, but several of the director's flourishes (flashbacks superimposed on the "current" image, lengthy blackouts during transitions, and surreal three-dimensional freeze-framing during a key sequence) seem gratuitous and unnecessarily flamboyant. The movie has a grungy look that suits the characters; however, this is not the kind of film that does much for promoting tourism in Buffalo. The city comes across as gray, cold, and unpleasant.
Gallo's script is quirky and filled with a number of hilariously strange comic moments. The highlights include a monologue where Billy ineptly explains why Layla should agree to play his wife, a bowling alley sequence where Layla, still in her dance costume, throws a strike, and an exchange in a $2 automated photo booth, where Billy explains that, although they're playing a couple whose affection "spans time," she's not to touch him. My only real complaint about the screenplay is that I would have like to have learned a little more about Layla. Her role in the film is to react to Billy, and, as a result, she remains underdeveloped. She's at least as interesting as he is, but, by the time the end credits roll, we know much more about him than about her.
Despite the occasional hiccups and drawbacks, Buffalo '66 proves to be a successful debut outing behind the camera for Gallo. It remains to be seen whether he'll direct any more films, but, if he does, hopefully he won't lose the edginess and sense of urgency that fashion a wide berth between this movie and the other entries in the small-but-growing subgenre devoted to victims who fall for their kidnappers (a couple of recent examples: Excess Baggage, A Life Less Ordinary). It's Buffalo '66's tone, not the reprehensible main character, that makes this an engaging motion picture.
Codec: DivX
Size: 697MB
Runtime: 01:49:41
Resolution: 640x352
Bitrate: 743 kb/s
FPS: 23.976
Audio: English. No subs.
137 kb/s (68/ch, stereo) VBR
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