Nick is a director of an independent film. He tries to film a scene of actress Nicole playing the role of a woman confessing to her mother that her father hit her, but numerous problems keep messing up the take. In the end, a beeping sound is heard. Nick wakes up, it was all a dream... High-profile actor Chad Palomino joins the cast of Nick's film, but constantly keeps changing the place of his position with Nicole on the set, leaving him out of the frame. His arrogance causes a fight with Nick, who beats Chad and leaves him unconscious in a cab. Nicole wakes up, it was all a dream... Nick wants to direct a dream scene, but the dwarf actor Tito protests that it doesn't make sense and leaves the set. Nick's mom surprisingly takes Tito's place, holds an apple for Nicole, and thus the scene is filmed. Nick is so pleased he fantasizes of winning an award for the film.
Sometimes, behind-the-scenes problems of making a movie are more interesting than the finished movie, and director Tom DiCillo uses his own personal experience from filmmaking in this fun independent comedy. "Living in Oblivion" is a one-note concept overstretched into a feature, but is still an honest ode to all artists everywhere struggling to achieve their vision, and their dream work of art, despite all the obstacles and opposition. It is comprised out of three segments. The first one is filmed in black-and-white cinematography, except in the actual scene of the film which is in color, and shows how a single take can be ruined in so many ways that it becomes absurdly creative: a boom mic falls into the frame; loud music from someone's car outside on the street is heard; or the hilarious moment where the actress Nicole (excellent Catherine Keener) is reciting her line, but all of a sudden fragments of glass fall into the scene, as the light exploded from too much heat.
The second segment is filmed in color, except for the scene from the fictional film which is in black-and-white, but this time depicting the tribulations caused by a "hot shot" movie star Chad, who is trying to direct a scene more than the director Nick himself. In one of the best ideas, Chad persuades the cameraman to place actress Nicole from the foreground into the background, with himself in the close up, under the pretext that she says "I've always admired you from afar". Even better is the scene where Nick sits next to Nicole and repeats the played scene almost word-for-word, admitting he admired her as an actress. Unfortunately, the movie suffers from the bad idea that the first two segments are revealed to be only a dream, implying that only the last 30 minutes are the actual filming of the movie, which should have been re-written to be included as one continuous, uninterrupted story from three different days. The last segment revolves around the dwarf actor Tito (Peter Dinklage in an early role) in all seriousness confronting Nick about the illogical nature of a dream sequence: "Why does my character have to be a dwarf?! ... Oh, make it weird, put a dwarf in it! Everyone will go: whoa whoa whoa, it must be a dream, there's a dwarf in it!" Other good gags are the smoke machine for said dream sequence which causes so much smoke in the room that it triggers the smoke detector, or the cameraman Wolf who is wearing an eyepatch, but a tear flows underneath it. Not every joke works, some are forced or underwhelming, and DiCillo doesn't have such a sense for comic timing, but overall, "Living in Oblivion" is a loving homage to underdogs trying to realize their dream.
Grade:+++
No comments:
Post a Comment