Living in Oblivion, written and directed by Tom DiCillo - 9.8 out of 10

Living in Oblivion, written and directed by Tom DiCillo
9.8 out of 10


Living in Oblivion will not be forgotten.
We find it on The New York Times' Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list

It is a film about filmmaking.
If Robert Altman's The Player looked behind the scenes, at the producers, the Players that 'tell you what is' to use the language of Chili Palmer from Get Shorty, Living in Oblivion centers on those who work on the set.
The main character is Nick Reve, portrayed by the fabulous Steve Buscemi, the director of an independent, low budget film.

He is so anxious, often overwhelmed by production costs and problems that he has nightmares, the one in the beginning having hilarious, if often sad, undertones.
Everything goes wrong on the set, for when a light bulb does not explode, a group of rap loving people arrive near the crew and their music blasts so loud that it spoils the sound recording.

If the lens of the camera is not out of focus, then the microphone has a malfunction, when this does not happen, one of the actresses forgets her line.
She is older and her replica has 'I have no memory of that whatsoever' included and this makes one of the staff joke on the fact that the artist went blank.

Which makes sense, for they are forced to repeat the same words over and over again.
The star of the low budget motion picture is Nicole Springer, played by the marvelous Catherine Keener,  a performer who has had a shower scene in a Richard Gere film.

The fictional character, not the real artist.
Some of the crew appreciate her former appearance, while others choose to dismiss and criticize it, alas, at one moment within her hearing.

Interwoven in the plot we have the feelings of the director for his star, which he has never brought into the open, because he ' has not wanted his love to interfere with their professional relationship'.
As the director is also the writer of the film, he had inserted that line into his movie.

Meanwhile, he has a rehearsal in the...bathroom.
He talks to himself in front of the mirror, repeating the invitation for a date aka meal he would eventually make.

Meanwhile, the leading lady has a one night stand with the rather pompous, infatuated - perhaps the paradigm of the male star- Chad Palomino aka the very good James Le Gros.
The now famous and acclaimed Peter Dinklage has a small role as Tito - the star keeps calling him Toto, with probable reference to the Wizard of Oz, while the director makes a mistake speaking of 'short' fuse - a short man who enters a dream.
The actor would not laugh at the indication of the director and would reveal that he is furious and has no idea why a midget has to be in this dream.

For Tito says:
'Nobody dreams about a midget! Not even midgets have a midget in their dream! So tell me, why do you need one in yours? You know what?
I quit'

And then he walks off the set.
At this point, it seems All Is Lost - like in that Robert Redford movie.

For the director has his own breakdown.
There had just been a terrible row, when the leading actress overheard the discussion between Nick and the malevolent, vicious Chad.
The latter not only tells the secret of the night before, which his sex partner had asked him to keep, but in Trump-like manner, he boasts about him being the one who had to explain it is just for this one time and so on...

Arrogant, self absorbed, narcissistic, just like the idiot in the White House, but many degrees less loathsome.
Nicole, once back on the set, suggests that they should improvise.

Anyway, before this moment, Chad had acted with obnoxious disregard for all th crew.
He has kept changing angles, positions, to the desperation of all concerned.

We can read in Adventures in the Screen Trade, by the late, now divine William Goldman, that real actors can be just as terrible.
Two examples: Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino.

When they improvise, the actress changes her lines and instead of expressing the admiration and love from the text - which the writer-director feels for her in real life - tells about her hatred and disgust.

Living in Oblivion is a spectacular film that will be remembered for ever.