Movies

C.I.A. agent, Billy Brown brings his wife home to meet his absurdly dysfunctional family. Only Billy's not really in the C.I.A., and his "wife," Layla is actually a young tap dancer he just kidnapped to impress his ridiculous and unloving parents. In reality, Billy's whole life is an empty lie. He's fresh out of prison and now on a deadly mission to hunt down and kill the Buffalo Bills kicker whose botched field goal he believes ruined his life. However, Billy's new hostage may ruin everything. Their crazy attachment blossoms into a desperate and oddly beautiful romance that may or may not be a sweet enough substitute for revenge. Vincent Gallo composed and performed the original music and also wrote, directed and stars in the film that The New York Times calls a "deadpan original."

This was a very strange movie which featured Vincent Gallo as Billy Brown. He is released from jail as the movie opens and then we go on a pretty wild ride as he kidnaps a girl who he needs to pose as his wife when he goes to visit his mother before his later plans to find the Buffalo Bills kicker and shoot him. Billy has no direction and he plans to take no responsibility for what happens after this night, until the woman he kidnapped says that she has fallen in love with him. I know what you are thinking, but no, this was not a Disney movie.

In my research on the film, many people seem to focus their reviews on how well Gallo captured the essence of life in Buffalo. I have never been to Buffalo, so I will have to find some other angle.

My story is a strange one. I came by this movie through a conversation that went something like this:

"...What about Mickey Rourke, do you like him?"
"Well, I can't say that I have seen him in much that I remember. I thought he was good in Sin City."
"Wow. Come on, he's great. Ummm...have you ever seen Buffalo '66?"
"No."
"Do it."

And so I did. And as The Bookie, Mickey Rourke has about 60 seconds of on-screen time. And while I agree that he was awesome for that one minute, I will have to find yet another angle.

I guess my focus will be on Vincent Gallo, which is mildly appropriate since he wrote, directed, starred in and composed (at least some of) the music for this movie. I thought he was brilliant in this role as he was held captive inside such a tormented mind. There were some incredibly deeply rooted problems from Billy's past to which were became privy one-by-one. At each confrontation with his parents a short flash-back clip is inserted to show us what happened and essentially how neglected Billy went as a child (I really enjoyed how this was done). He yells at everyone because that is the only way he saw his parents interact, with each other or with him. At the beginning of the movie Billy is a hollow soul full of anger and slowly over the course of the movie the perfect depth is added to his character. And while it doesn't make for the most heart-warming love story, it was somewhat endearing to see that Billy kidnapped the only person who may be crazier than he is.

We are given no indication about who Layla is; she was forcefully removed from her tap dancing class against her will by a man with whom she falls in love over a very short period of time. From what we know all they have is each other, but maybe that is enough for them to be happy.

Buffalo '66 is a movie I recommend, but not to everyone. If you are a student of film, either professionally or recreationally, I believe there was some impressive writing, organization and direction. This is also the type of movie I would recommend to my brother, but add the caveat that perhaps he should watch it one night when his wife has something else to do. There is very little harsh language, but there is a very negative cloud that hangs over this movie making it not attractive the optimists in the audience.

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