Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week
American independent films have that intelligent edge that has been missing from Hollywood productions since the late 1970s. Not even Francis Ford Coppola has made a really decent movie since Apocalypse Now, and that was in 1979.
Vincent Gallo’s Buffalo 66, which opens at cinemas this week, is a real treat. It’s an intelligent, quirky low budget film that has a unique visual style.
Gallo not only directed the film, but co-wrote the script, composed the music and stars in the lead role.
The story revolves around Billy Brown who has spent the past five years behind bars.
Brown found himself in hot water after he lost a bet on a football match. In order to pay back the bookie (Mickey Rourke in sleaze mode), he confessed to a crime he did not commit and let the bookie’s friends off the hook.
Once released from prison Brown is at a loss of what to do, other than track down the man he believes ruined his life.
Before returning home to his severely dysfunctional parents (played by Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara), Brown kidnaps a young tap-dancer from a bowling alley and makes her pretend to be his wife.
The young bimbo (played by Christina Ricci) is only too pleased to play along and ingratiates herself with his parents.
Buffalo 66 is a grungy film which is beautifully shot by newcomer Lance Accord in high contrast and bleached overtones.
Set in a world of housing estates, cheap motels, bowling alleys and tacky fast food restaurants, the film has about it an air of white trash that South African film-makers can only wish to emulate.
Gallo includes several major cinematic moments. Some critics have lambasted him for being uneven and flashy, but I disagree.
There are flashbacks superimposed on present day images, lengthy blackouts during transitions, extensive use of split screens and weird freeze- framing during a key sequence.
At times the movie is quite hallucinatory, but it is all weighed down and kept in focus by the acute performances. Gazzara and Huston are brilliant in their roles, and Ricci plays what is essentially an underdeveloped role to perfection.
The theme of victims who fall in love with their kidnappers is becoming a mini-genre these days, with recent examples being Excess Baggage and A Life Less Ordinary. However, Buffalo 66 is by far the lead contender in this category.
It’s a sweet movie with a moral lesson. Gallo invests in the movie a distinct sense of the personal (he claims some of the movie is autobiographical) and so makes his dislikeable character very affecting and the film as a whole an independent find.