Living in Oblivion

"Living in Oblivion" is one of your video store's coolest secrets. Writer-director Tom Dicillo takes a satiric look at independent films while capturing the ups and downs of making a movie. For the cast and crew of the film within this film, the downs hilariously outnumber the ups.

Steve Buscemi shines in an all-too-rare lead role as the frustrated director. There's also great work by James LeGros as the pompous leading man, Catherine Keener as the insecure leading lady, and Dermot Mulroney as the broken-hearted cinematographer.

Dicillo is especially concerned with the nightmares and daydreams of his characters, and rightly adopts a dreamy visual style that shifts between black and white and color.

It all adds up to an uncommonly intelligent, artistic, and funny(!) comedy that deserves your attention.

I'm also an independent director. Yes, I've made movies. And if you don't know what it's like, then this movie will tell you.

This movie was shown to me on the first day of film school. I don't know if they were being ironic or simply warning us for what would come in the next two weeks, but as a director who would then go on and direct my own film over those two weeks, this movie is painfully accurate and very hilarious.

When I first went into this movie, I thought it was some sentimental thing about the art of making a movie and the spiritual journey your soul goes on or whatever. But it's not. Again, this movie speaks to me, and is just so funny, just because of the way that it's relatable. I would definitely recommend all aspiring filmmakers to see this one, partially because it is demonstrative of the often-hilarious Murphy's Law-esque antics that happen on film sets.

You know a film is good when you have a theatre full of film students laughing their heads off every ten seconds. And that was exactly what was happening. This was actually the first movie I saw back in the theatre after an almost-2-year-long pandemic-related hiatus, and it really was genuinely a great film to see on the big screen.

The movie has a really unmistakable style, with a lot of clever colour-to-black-and-white switches to signify the difference between the film world and the real world which I really enjoyed. On top of all of that, everyone delivered excellent performances which elevated the comedy of it all even further.

One of the best comedies out there, and a must-see for indie filmmakers. Thank you MFI '21!

-Sasha.

Living in Oblivion is an unusual, funny, and interesting example of the movie-about-movies genre, focusing on the low budget, independent movie making scene. The lead performances by Steve Buscemi and Catherine Keener are first-rate, and the supporting cast is excellent as well. The film veers from satire to realism to surrealism in depicting the problems and tensions involved in off-off-Hollywood filmmaking. One problem with its structure, though, is the repeated "dream trick." Its first use creates shock and interest, but its second use creates a serious distraction in the third act since the viewer keeps wondering whose dream he or she may be in this time. Overall, an enjoyable film - highly recommended to indie film buffs.

Film about filmmaking. It takes place during one day on set of non-budget movie. Ultimate tribute to all independent filmmakers.

It should come as no surprise that the director of this film learned the trade under the wing of Jim Jarmusch. The film has a very Jarmusch quality to it, and if it had his name on it I would not have been surprised. Especially the black and white scenes. We also get some great guest stars -- Steve Buscemi, obviously, but also Catherine Keener and Peter Dinklage.

Not everyone will like this movie. It is a movie for those who make movies, and for those who love the making of movies. Especially independent films with little or no budget.

This is one of my favorite movies and it aggravates me that it's the kind of movie that always seems to slip through the cracks. In other words, nobody watched it. It's hilariously funny and yet the public in general don't either get it or find it funny. I not only laughed a lot but found the acting to be excellent. Buscemi's performance of a Indi' film director going through the rigors of dealing with inept film crew, egotistical actor's, in-crew relationships and not to mention a certain dwarf with a major chip on his shoulder. If you are a film buff and know a little more than most about movie's rent it. 10 out of 9