Living in Oblivion (1995)

You won't be disappointed!

Best movie ever!

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

One thing after another goes wrong on the set of a low budget movie in this film about filmmaking starring Steve Buscemi as the frustrated director at the heart of the tale. From the premise alone, 'Living in Oblivion' might sound like a rather straightforward comedy, but it is actually far from it with a narrative full of twists and turns and some effective cinematic touches, such as all the 'reality' scenes appearing in black and white with only the film-within in colour during the first section of the movie. Writer-director Tom DiCillo's script is hardly airtight with some aspects of the film not really making sense in light of the twists, but in general the twists work very well to further the film's ultimate portrait of how difficult it is to film one particular type of sequence in a credible manner. Also impressive is the attention given to the thoughts and feelings of almost all of the cast and crew characters, each of whom have their own ideas of how to improve the movie they are working on, with Buscemi madly juggling every opinion in a somewhat futile attempt to keep everyone working and happy. James Le Gros tends to get a lot of praise here for his portrait of the comically super-arrogant leading man in Buscemi's film, however, Catherine Keener is just as effective in an early career turn; same goes for Peter Dinklage and his annoyance over being stereotyped.

This is a low budget film about making a low budget film by a guy who seems to always make low budget films. What this film reveals to us is not only the problems and the stress that comes about with all film making, but that which is generally connected with making low budget films.What sets low budget films apart from other normal films is that because there is a huge limit on funds available, other things are needed to draw the crowds, such as real characters and experimental filming techniques. This film begins in black and white, but when the filming begins, the film switches to colour. In the next section, it is the opposite, with the normal sequences being in colour and the filming sequences in black and white.Living in Oblivion is divided into three parts, and each of these parts a different scene is being filmed. The whole goal of this movie is that a scene in the movie is filmed, and Nick (Steve Buschemi), the director, seems to always run into problems when the filming begins. The way DiCillo makes the movie, which is very similar to what he did in Johnny Suede, leaves you wondering what is real and what is not. He is very clever with his dream sequences as they are indistinguishable from reality, except that everything ends up destroyed. Yet, the dream sequence in the film that is being made is the opposite, with smoke machines and dwarfs.The lead actors in the film are also important. One is a struggling actress who only did a shower scene in a Richard Geare movie. The famous actor is a complete snob and wants everything done his way, and he prances around acting as if he owned the entire movie. It seems that DiCillo is making a comment about actors who think that they make movies and without them the movie wouldn't exist. It is interesting that a Hollywood writer said that there is no such thing as a bankable product, and just because an actor is popular, doesn't mean that he is going to make millions from a movie.Living in Oblivion is a type of movie that I like because it focuses on characters and the relationships that cause problems. The director is not afraid to experiment, nor make comments about people, such as famous actors. Mostly, he tries to reveal to us what it really is like on a set of a low budget movies, and the problems that they face.

"Living in Oblivion" (1995) - is a 91 minutes long low-budget independent movie about trials and tribulations during making a low budget independent movie called.. "Living in Oblivion". Writer-director Tom DiCillo made in 1991 a film called "Johnny Suede" starring a young and unknown at the time actor named Brad Pitt. "Johnny Suede" was a failure with both critics and viewers but an artist can learn from any experience however disappointing or devastating it is. DiCillo wrote a short story from his frustration and turned his experience into a smart, funny, playful, and highly enjoyable second feature "Living in Oblivion" that takes place during one day of shooting a low budget film. Photographed with the color-to-black-and-white transitions, "Living in Oblivions" has surreal, strangely poetic and amusing quality to it.The cast is solid and consists of DiCillo's friends who are the regulars in his films. Steve Buscemi, the king of independent movies, in the rare starring role, plays Nick Reve, a long-haired, dedicated but frustrated director who in the moments of creative inspiration has to get back to earth and to deal with the tensions between his leading lady (Catherine Keener, before her star-making turn in "Being John Malkovich" but already a wonderfully talented beautiful and sexy actress) with whom he is silently in love and the male star, arrogant egotist Chad Palomino (James LeGros does an un-flattering but hilarious and quite accurate impersonation of the real life model for Chad). If these problems are not enough, there is eye-patch wearing sensitive leather-clad cameraman named Wolf (Dermot Mulroney) who went through a painful break-up right on the set. There is a great scene with an irritated dwarf Tito (Peter Dinklage) who was hired for a dream sequence and who hates dreams with the dwarfs in them: "Have you ever had a dream with a dwarf in it? Do you know anyone who's had a dream with a dwarf in it? No! I don't even have dreams with dwarfs in them. The only place I've seen dwarfs in dreams is in stupid movies like this!" There is also a smoke machine that explodes every time when turned on...And to top it all, Nick's senile mother surprisingly shows up during the shot and eventually saves the dream sequence and the movie. That's what the mothers are for, aren't they?

Living in Oblivion is an indie movie about one day in the life the kaking of an indie movie called Living in Oblivion. We see that day in the form of dream sequences from the point of view of the lead actress and the director. Overall, this is a low budget film that is well written and has a good cast of talented but less famous actors. Indie favorite Steve Buscemi is the director of the movie and is his usual quirky self. Real-life husband and wife Dermot Mulroney and Catherine Keener - both very good actors - appear in the best performance I have seen either of them in. Keener in particular has a tough role repeating the same scene over and over again and giving it tiny nuances and changes. Mulroney looks right out of a 50's pirate movie with his eye patch and funny clothes. The actor who played Chad Palomino - the movie's star - was quite irritating. I wonder if that was completely intentional or the director chose to cast an irritating actor. The overall tone of the film is light and upbeat despite small irritations destroying what should be a very easy scene to film. Not boring at all, Living in Oblivion is a fast paced 90 minute movie.