Director/Composer: Vincent Gallo
Original Story: Vincent Gallo
Screenplay: Vincent Gallo, Alison Bagnall
Director of Photography: Lance Acord
Vincent Gallo: Billy Brown
Christina Ricci: Layla/Wendy
Anjelica Huston: Janet Brown
Ben Gazzara: Jimmy Brown
Kevin Corrigan: Goon/Rocky
Mickey Rourke: Bookie
Rosanna Arquette: Wendy
Jan-Michael Vincent: Sony |
"Buffalo'66" is the story of an angry, insecure, inadequate young man, Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo). Billy has just spent five years in jail in payment for a lost bet on his mother's favourite football team, the Buffalo Bills and has created an elaborate fantasy life to prevent his parents from knowing the truth.
When Billy rings his mother to let her know he's in town she insists that he bring his wife to meet them. What wife - Wendy's part of the fiction!
In desperation Billy kidnaps a young woman from a tap-dancing class - Layla (Christina Ricci) - and forces her to drive him to his parents' house, and pass herself off as his wife - "You'll adore me, you'll love me, you'll cherish me,... you can't live without me". The closer they get to his home the more anxious Billy becomes and we soon find out why.
Talk about a dysfunctional family! Janet Brown (Anjelica Huston) has one passion in life, her local football team the Buffalo Bills. Jimmy Brown (Ben Gazzara) is taciturn, disinterested and cruel. Neither parent takes any interest in their son, but both are infatuated with his "wife".
Rejected once more Billy sets off, with Layla in tow, on a vendetta to kill Woods, the player responsible for losing Billy his bet. But the ending is kept in doubt almost to the last frame: Which will prove more powerful for Billy - revenge or love?
"Buffalo'66" reminds me of Jane Campion's "Sweetie", with its dysfunctional family, black comedy and exaggerated realism. It is funny, sad and violent. It is ultimately a poignant love story about two damaged people who find new hope in each other.
The performances are uniformly excellent. Gallo creates Billy as a disturbing, and intriguing anti-hero and Ricci is wonderful as Layla- surly yet warm and vulnerable, as needy in her own way as Billy.
The film has the edginess and violent undertone that is typical of so many recent independent American films, but it is very much an original. "Buffalo'66" is an impressive directorial debut for young actor Vincent Gallo. He's worth watching as director and actor. He also composed the music.
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