91/100

Like Zonca's Julia, an improbable triumph in a "genre" I normally despise—here, the sensitive man-child who's saved/redeemed by the unconditional love of a fantasy babe. Both films push their noxious idea to an extreme that's at once comical and disturbing, demanding empathy for a nearly irredeemable protagonist; Gallo opens with a photo of Billy at age seven ("with his dog Bingo"), then proceeds to play the role as if still trapped at that age, with all of a child's destructive narcissism and no cuteness whatsoever. Ultimately, it's Ricci's miraculous performance that makes it work, beginning with the almost preternatural stillness of her extended close-up in the car, as she simply listens to Billy's insane request without making the slightest…

“Just look like we are a married couple, spanning time!”
-Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo)

Buffalo ’66 is the feature debut from Vincent Gallo, who also writes and stars as the lead. I feel I must first admit; I didn’t actually want to like this film. I had heard much about Gallo prior to seeing this (and not all sung his praises.), particularly that he is rather egotistic and self-absorbed, and that he complained about having to do all the work for Christina Ricci (Whom delivers perhaps the best performance of her career here.). As such, I concede that I didn’t exactly go into this with very high hopes. Against all odds, however, this film exceeded my expectations. Despite my predisposition,…

As I stand in line to punch Vincent Gallo in the face, I look back at this movie telling a tale of a broken man finding something to hold on or to just give into his revenge.

Buffalo '66 open with Billy getting out of jail after 5 years serving. He kidnaps Layla, a dancer along the way so he can introduce her as his wife on the lies he told his parents over the course of his term. From the longs shots in the cold as Billy runs from one place to another in search of a bathroom, Bufalo '66 becomes a story that feels about two broken souls meeting each other.

Billy's character is something you will hate,…

Fuck, I have some seriously mixed emotions about this one. On the one hand, it's unquestionably a skillfully put together film. On the other, the film is quite uncomfortable to watch at times. In certain cases intentionally so while in other cases quite unintentionally. The entire film is predicated on whether or not you're able to buy Christina Ricci's bizarre case of Stockholm syndrome and, quite frankly, I don't really know if I do or not... and yet the film still kinda, sorta works for me somehow. Vincent Gallo has earned a reputation as a polarizing figure over the years but part of me feels as though he knows what he's doing as a filmmaker and if he doesn't then…

What an experience. Buffalo ’66 is like nothing else. It has a very unique atmosphere of suffer, loneliness and sadness. Gallo was great, both as a director, writer, actor and composer. His entire body is Billy Brown and it can be seen at all moments. The way he moves. His facial expressions. The way he speaks. He delivers the emotions and the atmosphere Billy is feeling, the atmosphere of being alone and lost. Ricci is great as well. She is very charming and delivers an honest and authentic portrayal of her character. She can act incredibly in silence. She does not have to say much for us to understand exactly what her character feels and wants. They are both very…

More of a musing than a review: This very lovely film that I adored from first sight, I happen to gain further appreciation of after reading Nabokov's Lolita. Lolita's sporadic, literary progression and digression through feint images of genre is mimicked in Buffalo '66 to an extent. Though merely superficially, there are narrative similarities as well, though Gallo's film is less indulgent and far more moralistic and modernist than the post-modern novel. Of particular note is the parallel of the scenes in which Dolores flatly tells the narrator that she does like him, despite his thought of the contrary, as almost what I'd interpret as an expression of Dolly's lack of free will, against "But I do like you, Billy",…