Synopsis
Nick is the director of a low-budget indie film. He tries to keep everything together as his production is plagued with an insecure actress, a megalomaniac star, a pretentious, beret-wearing director of photography, and lousy catering.
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Cast
- Steve BuscemiNick Reve
- Catherine KeenerNicole Springer
- Dermot MulroneyWolf
- Danielle von ZerneckWanda
- James Le GrosChad Palomino
- Rica MartensCora
- Peter DinklageTito
- Kevin CorriganAssistant Camera
- Hilary GilfordScript
- Robert WightmanGaffer
Recommendations
- 91
Entertainment Weekly
Living in Oblivion celebrates the very act of filmmaking as grand folly, a triumph of absurdist heroism. - 90
The New York Times
Wonderfully funny behind-the-scenes look at the perils of film making, no-budget style. - 88
ReelViews
This movie is keen, clever, and -- most important of all -- a nonstop exercise in hilarity. - 88
San Francisco Chronicle
Living in Oblivion is a rarity, a dark comedy that takes place almost entirely on a film set. Written and directed by Tom DiCillo, this is a very funny picture that presents the world of independent film making as a nightmare of conflicting egos, budgetary squalor and incompetence. - 80
Time Out
The ingenious narrative, told from differing perspectives and incorporating tales within tales and teasing elisions between film and reality, is actually informative about the nuts and bolts of shooting a movie, and not only as a catalogue of technical disasters - through the shamefully under-rated Keener, we get a real insight into screen acting and the way fatigue, memory, stress and surroundings can take their toll. Hers, however, is merely the finest of a whole host of spot-on performances. A treat. - 80
Empire
Combining farce and tragedy in equal amounts, DiCillo has made a film that should appeal to anybody who has ever had a particularly rotten day. - 80
Washington Post
Savagely funny satire of the world of independent filmmaking. - 75
Slant Magazine
Director Tom DiCillo ingeniously structures the film as a trio of overlapping shorts that cumulatively suggest ripples emanating from a stone tossed in a pond.
