A while back I saw a movie that made quite an impression on me, not due to it’s special effects, star-studded cast or intricate plot but due to it’s simplicity. I had heard a lot of good things about this movie but I never got round to seeing it until I bought it in Amsterdam a few months ago. It was never officially released here in Belgium but if you were lucky you’d stumble on a copy once in a blue moon. The movie I’m talking about is Vincent Gallo’s minimalist, quirky and endearing directorial debut Buffalo 66. It is hard to label this film seeing as it is a perfect combo of "romantic" comedy and existential drama. The movie is filled with great dialogue, unusual situations, wonderful performances (especially Gallo is brilliant as the wounded, embittered and screaming to be saved Billy) and some of the most heart-warming moments that have hit the silver screen in the past decade (bare in mind the movie dates back from 1998). 
The socially impaired Billy Brown is released from prison after a five-year sentence for a crime he did not commit. He decides to visit his parents who think he has a great job and has gotten married. In desperate need of a wife, he kidnaps a dance class student called Layla (Christina Ricci) and forces her to pretend to be his one true love. Despite the unusual situation, Layla actually starts to like Billy but he is too busy fighting his inner demons and past to realize that kidnapping her might be the best thing that ever happened to him.
Vincent Gallo (director, actor, painter, musician, motorcycle racer and model) created an independent classic true to the gritty minimalist nature of the genre in which story and performance prevail. Despite the independent feel, Gallo also plays around with the medium resulting in split screen imaging, stills, insets for flashbacks, and a rotating freeze frame during the film's climatic scene. Sadly he hasn’t been up to much (director-wise) ever since The Brown Bunny which created a lot of controversy in 2003 due to the unsimulated fellatio that Chloë Sevigny gave her director in the movie.
Needles to say, his films might not appeal to everyone but seeing as I am a fan of writer / directors and independent film this certainly tickled my fancy. The movie was honest, sincere, funny, a little out there but was able to show just the right amount of emotion and depth at exactly the right moments without becoming sentimental or cheap.
The socially impaired Billy Brown is released from prison after a five-year sentence for a crime he did not commit. He decides to visit his parents who think he has a great job and has gotten married. In desperate need of a wife, he kidnaps a dance class student called Layla (Christina Ricci) and forces her to pretend to be his one true love. Despite the unusual situation, Layla actually starts to like Billy but he is too busy fighting his inner demons and past to realize that kidnapping her might be the best thing that ever happened to him.
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