This enjoyable indie feature, a one of a kind crossover of Jarmusch meets Coen brothers with a touch of David Lynch proved to be a true revelation. An outsider loser played with true perfection by Steve Buscemi with his wide-eyed naiveté, lives in a dingy apartment with Tarkovsky, Goddard and Renoir on his wannabe filmmaker's mind and is suckered into a passionate relationship with a smiling gangster beautifully portrayed by the late Seymour Cassel, a role that won him a prize at Sundance for his scene-stealing turn as Joe, the small-time hood who helps aspiring filmmaker Adolpho Rollo (Steve Buscemi) make his screen bow in return for the odd favour. Cassel once claimed that the fun part of acting was "filling out a part and making it a little crazy", and this is the key to his byplay with Buscemi. Buscemi on the other hand is filming his dream with 16mm camera exactly like the Kieslowski's "Film buff" and the centerpiece of this dream is beautiful Angelica Peña, played by Jennifer Beals in a truly memorable role. Their relationship is a roller coaster ride between contempt and affection a perfect antithesis to the role Cassel plays in both their lives. Stanley Tucci has a great cameo as French oddball wannabe husband to Beals and in a scene taken directly from David Lynch his favorite little man Michael J. Anderson appears and does the trick. Not to forget couple of idiotic landlords that spark up the story and LP record step-by-step guide to dancing the Cha-Cha.
I watched this movie with widest smile and it was such a refreshing experience to see the best parts of distinctive directors I love in each scene beautifully put together by Alexandre Rockwell. It's funny, it's refreshing and relaxing. You may even simpathize wit the characters. More than recommended.
