Buffalo '66

Buffalo '66 (1998) begins with a man leaving prison. Billy has lied to his parents for years, telling them he works undercover for the government and is married. He has to go home and there is no wife. He abducts a girl from a dance studio and asks her to play the part. The best thing in it is the dinner. The family sits down, the mother cares more about a football game than about her son, the father maintains a frozen pose, and where all of Billy's rage comes from is explained in those ten minutes. Vincent Gallo wrote it, directed it, starred in it and composed part of the music. Christina Ricci plays the girl, with Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara as the parents. It was shot on 16mm reversal stock, which produces a positive directly rather than a negative; colours are more saturated, contrast is harder and there is very little margin for error. The pallid, cold look of Buffalo comes largely from that choice. Its formal trick is in the flashbacks. When Billy remembers something the scene opens as a box inside the same frame, and two times sit on screen at once. It runs 110 minutes. Good for: nineties American independent film, family portraits, and formal experiment. Less good for: Billy is constantly abusive and the speed with which the woman attaches to him is never explained, which is the main criticism of the film. The pace is uneven and the ending resolves far too easily.