Skip to main content

Review: Living in Oblivion (1995)

Living in Oblivion (1995)

This one's for those that enjoy off-kilter comedies and are interested in the film-making process, specifically that of indie films that have the tendency to have everything go on while filming. The film has less of a forward-moving plot and is more of a snapshot view into the filming of three separate scenes of an indie feature. It is quirky and absurd, entertaining and also interesting.
As far as films go, this is really the only film I can think of that really goes into the minutiae and the technicalities of film-making such as light meters, terminology and call-out cues, blocking, framing, script supervisors, the many many takes that go into filming a single scene, and much more. It is quite fascinating seeing all of these elements woven into a comedy.

The film is directed and written by former Jim Jarmusch DP, Tom DiCello, and is an early outing for a number of now-very recognizable faces including Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Peter Dinklage and Dermot Mulroney. While watching it, you can kind of get a sense of why the film wasn't a breakout hit as it has a quite unconventional structure and the pacing/dialogue does not have that Hollywood refinement. This is not to say that the film doesn't have its indie charm though. I recommend it for anyone looking for a quirky, outside-the-box comedy,
those who are fans of any of the aforementioned stars or interested in what film-making is really like.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The New Mutants (2020)

The New Mutants (2020) TLDR: A sad, dismal final chapter in Fox's once-acclaimed X-Men saga. The New Mutants shows promise in fragments, but its poor script and plot and often awkward execution makes for a sickly overall package that is quite fitting for this equally-sickly year that it has finally been released in... The New Mutants were an alt-X-Men team created in the early 80's in an effort to revamp and re-contemporize a new team of teenage X-Men. The new series became a smash-hit with new star mutants like Magik, Cannonball, Sunspot, Wolfsbane and Mirage, all of whom continue to headline Marvel comics to this day. Josh Boone's The New Mutants, which was announced more than five years ago and shot in 2017, has finally seen the light of day in 2020... The film seeks to adapt the team's beloved 'Demon Bear' storyline, while introducing audiences to this fresh team of mutant superheroes. In doing so, Boone tries to create an omelet-homage from the likes of Ste...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: How to With John Wilson (Season 1)

How to With John Wilson (Season 1) TLDR: It's hard to describe exactly what How To is or why exactly it works, but there's a certain point in every episode when the comedy begins to click and then the human element - the surprising poignancy and the everyman/woman relatability - comes out in spades. This documentary series is unlike anything else out there and absolutely worth your time. Who exactly is John Wilson? That's the first question that comes to mind when HBO's new documentary series is recommended to a new viewer. The name is in the show's title, and yet John Wilson is rather a nobody in the grand scheme of things as well as in the entertainment industry (at least he was prior to the becoming a bonafide hit). However, not long ago, contemporary comedy icon Nathan Fielder discovered Wilson and, after seeing his work and style, decided to jump on board as a producer for a new series made by Wilson.  So, again, what exactly is this show? Well, each episode of...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Soul (2020)

Soul (2020) TLDR: For a year where many may feel like they have lost a little piece of their own, Soul has arrived to remind us all what's most important in life. This is a Pixar film that is arguably more important for adults to watch than kids: it is beautiful - in both story and art, it is quirky, it is heartfelt and, as these trying times endlessly push on, it reminds us that there is still a lot of good in this world to enjoy and reflect upon.  Note: some spoilers below. It takes a little bit of time to ease into Disney/Pixar's Soul. Though the film starts out in a lush and beautifully rendered NYC filled with delightful jazz music as we follow Joe around his everyday boroughs, things very quickly run astray. Suddenly, we are thrown into an abstract world filled with Picasso-like wiry characters and massively heady existential concepts like 'where do we come from', 'the great beyond', and much more. If it's not immediately apparent, it soon becomes clea...
Post a Comment
Read more