Living in Oblivion
Synopsis
The story follows a single disaster-filled day in the life of a director as he desperately tries to fulfill his vision and shoot his movie despite whining actors, bumbling crew members, exploding lights and malfunctioning fog machines.
Our take
Cinema has provided its share of films about the many challenges of filmmaking, but few—if any—realize as disastrous circumstances as Tom DiCillo’s Living in Oblivion. Virtuoso performances from Catherine Keener & Steve Buscemi bolster this remarkably accurate and distinctly hilarious cult gem.
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Awards & Festivals
Sundance Film Festival
1995 | 2 wins including: Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
Independent Spirit Awards
1996 | 3 nominations including: Best Feature
Stockholm International Film Festival
1995 | Winner: FIPRESCI Prize
Valladolid International Film Festival
1995 | Winner: Best New Director
Critics reviews
A low-budget film about low-budget filmmaking, Living in Oblivion captures an intense and potentially demoralizing wrinkle of communal creation, whether the endeavor in question is filmmaking, writing, dance, or painting—that nothing’s a given… 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.
Chuck Bowen
November 24, 2015
DiCillo’s ode to filmmaking plays like Fellini’s 8 1/2 re-imagined as a 90s music video… Peter Dinklage (making his film debut) steals the show as a disgruntled actor tired of the clichéd use of dwarves in dream sequences.
A.J. Serrano
November 11, 2015
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