“The only place I’ve seen dwarves in dreams is in stupid movies like this! ‘Oh make it weird, put a dwarf in it!'”

Justin’s rating: CUT!

Justin’s review: Huzzah! Another Hollywood video about making movies in Hollywood! I share your utter lack of enthusiasm for this topic, but let us extend a modicum of grace to Living in Oblivion, as it stars Steve Buscemi, has Peter Dinklage in his first credited role, and is among the crowd of ’90s indie flicks that often prove to be creative.

Like the underrated Noises Off, Living in Oblivion is less about the movie-within-a-movie itself and more about the chaos that unfolds on the set when everything goes wrong in a delightful way. Steve Buscemi, who punched more ’90s indie flicks than anyone else to get a free Subway six-inch, plays Nick, the frustrated director who can’t keep everything on rails as particular scenes they’re trying to film disintegrate.

Nick’s surrounded by a mildly dysfunctional cast and crew, giving us a glimpse of just how many people it takes to make even a small movie. We go back and forth between the behind-the-scenes work (which is done in black-and-white) and the movie scenes being filmed (which are in color) — at least at the start. That flips the other way around later.

Everything that could go wrong with these scenes do: Bulbs blow out, the camera goes out of focus, a truck pulls up behind the set blasting music, forgotten lines, and spoiled milk threatens to make people spew.

Worse than that, there’s some rising drama between actors that bleeds into the final product. Nicole (Catherine Keener) lost confidence in her own ability, Chad (James LeGros) is far too cocky and self-sure, Wolf (Dermot Mulroney) suffers a string of physical mishaps, and Tito (Dinklage) simply doesn’t want to be the stereotypical dwarf-in-a-dream.

And yeah, it’s wild to see an early Peter Dinklage in a bit part like this. He exudes the focused, angry energy of Tyrion Lannister but doesn’t have the room to show off his more comedic side.

This isn’t a farce. It carries the all-to-real feel of what it’s probably been like for way too many small-budget movies with passionate directors and messed-up leads. The viewer shares the low-key agony of scenes being so close to working before that victory is stolen by the most trivial of things.

I’m used to seeing Buscemi as a secondary or tertiary character, so it’s cool to get him in the center spotlight. There’s some attempt to show us what’s happening in his and others’ heads, although this manifests in dream sequences — and I hate dream sequences. This movie is both his dream and his curse, and the stress of it makes him oblivious to the fact that his lead actress has a crush on him.

Living in Oblivion isn’t laugh-out-loud funny, but there is a sly sense of humor that’s biting the hand that feeds it. Making movies isn’t glamorous, it’s a headache, but maybe the anxiety is worth it, especially if it’s entertaining.

However, I do feel that I’m on a different wavelength than a lot of critics that fall over themselves praising this flick and calling it “hilarious.” It’s fine? It’s fine if a little Hollywood insiderish. I’m not that enamored with the dream fake-outs that make it so unclear if anything in this movie even happens for real, but as a character piece, this is a bunch of memorable weirdos under extreme stress who I won’t forget any time soon.

Intermission!

• Peter Dinklage’s first credited screen role
• Bad milk can last for a little while longer
• “Flame on, a–hole!”
• The shift from black-and-white into color when we see what’s being filmed
• “Thank you for this apology, but you’ll never work in this town again.”
• This movie really, really wants us to know that Catherine Keener has armpit hair
• “You’re just saying that because you have Preparation H on your face.”
• “Someone smells very, very good here.”
• Chad and the eyepatch
• Station wagons are the new limos
• The T-160 fog machine is a beast
• She can walk through doors
• “I don’t even have dreams with dwarves in them!”