Buffalo '66When people get hurt often enough, they tend to strike first so as to not feel the heartbreak of rejection or the pain of being life's punching bag. Buffalo '66 is a comedy/drama about Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo), recently released from five years in prison and about to begrudgingly revisit his horrible parents, Jan (Anjelica Huston) and Jimmy (Ben Gazzara). Billy has lied to them that his absence was due to getting married--a lie he tries to justify by abducting a young woman named Layla (Christina Ricci) from her tap dancing lesson. Billy forces her to pretend to be his young bride; and as perplexing as it may seem, she agrees to help Billy with his familial woes.
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Buffalo '66 is written, directed, and starring Vincent Gallo--he even provides the music for the film. It has been said (probably also by Gallo) that Buffalo '66 is a semi-autobiographical movie; if this is true, it is a deliberately one-sided perspective. Billy's homecoming is hardly the warm welcome one might expect from being locked away in prison for five years. When he exits the prison on a winter afternoon, no one is waiting for him, and he is forced to sit in silence on a cold bench waiting for the last bus into town. His memories of his incarceration flood back on him like living photographs, while a sad piano plinks away on the score. Billy can't even catch a break trying to find a bathroom; he ultimately slinks into a tap studio where he crosses paths with Layla, and subsequently kidnaps her. It's likely that Billy's perception of reality is distorted; even the "deal" he makes with Layla to pose as his wife sounds vaguely like the kind of offer a child would make, suggesting that he is in a state of arrested development. Billy proposes that Layla try to make him look good for his parents, who evidently couldn't care less about his visit or his charade. His mom spends all of her time obsessively watching the Buffalo Bills, and goes so far as to openly blame Billy for being responsible for her favorite team not winning a Superbowl since he was born, because she went into labor the last time and missed it. She states that because of this, she wishes that she never had him; but it is almost inconceivable that a mother would even contemplate such a self-centered idea, much less verbalize it. His father is an erstwhile lounge singer who is visibly agitated at the mere presence of his son--accusing him of "pointing a knife at him" at dinner--and avoids making eye contact with a son he clearly despises.
Flashbacks from Billy's past crop up during his visit with his parents--traumatic episodes including when Jimmy strangled his pet puppy, Bingo, for urinating in the house, and when his mother fed him chocolate despite being allergic; Jan also tries to give him chocolate donuts as an adult. Buffalo '66 opens with a photograph of a young Billy (played by John Sansone) ostensibly in happier days--or at least before his childhood scars proved too much to bear, and turned him into the vicious, skeezy tramp he acts like. Billy's horrible upbringing wasn't limited to his family; he had a crush on a girl named Wendy Balsam in elementary school--this is the same name he makes Layla adopt when he introduces her as his wife. Billy has the misfortune of running into her at a Denny's years later (played by Rosanna Arquette), where she demeans Billy--intentional or otherwise--rubbing salt into his wounded heart. He even turns out to be innocent of the ambiguous crime which got Billy sent to the big house; he took the rap for some acquaintance of a sleazy bookie (Mickey Rourke) after failing to repay a bad bet he made on the Bills in the Superbowl to the tune of ten-thousand dollars. One would think that all of this pain and suffering would make Billy more sympathetic, but that's not how hurt works. Billy is rough and demeaning to Layla virtually from start to finish; he even barks orders at her about cleaning off the windshield of her own car which he steals. All Billy has learned is that it's better to hurt someone before they can hurt you.
Layla's role in Buffalo '66 is fundamentally like that of a guardian angel, albeit one who is ill-used by Billy. She has an ethereal quality that never quite feels at home with the rest of the film's portrayal of Buffalo, New York. Dressed in a low-cut blouse and matching fishnet leggings, and in silver sequined heels, it would be forgivable to believe that Layla moonlights as a prostitute--her outfit is a bit provocative and leaves a lot of skin exposed for a New York winter. Layla possesses a saintly level of understanding and accommodates Billy's whims, even when he is cruel to her. She has multiple chances to escape Billy's clutches at the tap studio and afterwards, but doesn't. Why not? She actually likes him, even before she confesses it. Consider a moment after he relieves himself against a tree and she doesn't seize the opportunity to drive off and report him to the police. He comes back to the car and apologizes for, y'know, kidnapping her...and pulling on her hair...and yelling at her. The camera lingers on Layla's beautiful face; beneath the powder blue eye shadow, her eyes--well, Christina Ricci's eyes, who always seems wise beyond her years--convey a look of compassion and even concern for someone who resorts to such drastic means just to reunite with his parents. From this moment, Layla understands that she is the only person who could save Billy from himself.
Following his bad bet on the Bills, Billy has convinced himself that the kicker who missed a crucial field goal did so because he was bribed to throw the game. Of course this paranoid fantasy isn't true, but it is the only way Billy can justify why his life--which was already so miserable--could get worse; all he wanted was to win big for his mother, thinking that he could win his way back into her heart. Logic dictates that Layla should remove herself from this potentially volatile encounter, but her heart is big and she allows herself to shoulder Billy's burden. She makes every meaningful effort--without sarcasm--to "talk him up" to his parents, going so far as to invent stories about how they met "at the CIA", and that she is pregnant with Billy's baby. She beyond the call of duty, enduring eating tripe--despite telling Billy she was a vegetarian--and dealing with Jimmy's unsubtle molestations. She follows him to the bowling alley--the only place where Billy seems to be truly at peace, priding himself on his prowess at throwing "rocks". She comes to his rescue after he is visibly threatened by Wendy's presence, though he shortly curses her out afterwards. Despite everything, she stays with him all the way to the end, trying to entice him into physical contact by taking a bath with him or just holding his hand. For all that this might play out like some elaborate sexual fantasy, Layla's advances are sympathetic first and foremost; she is trying to rekindle his humanity, long since hidden away behind the fortifications surrounding his heart. One of the most poignant (and hysterical) moments in Buffalo '66 comes when Billy tries to get Layla to take a series of photo booth pictures with him, so that she can parse out the snapshots over the years to his parents to "span time". The outline of a touching moment of genuine romance forms, but is ruined by Billy's domineering attitude and impatience. He tries to get her to pretend she's having a good time, paradoxically by ruining the actual fun she's having with him; he misses it entirely when she tells him, "I do like you, Billy".
There are moments of soft beauty and heartfelt emotion in Buffalo '66, between the ones where Billy is acting like an insufferable jerk. Layla has a moment in the bowling alley after the pins need to be reset manually, where she performs a tap dance in the hazy glow of a spotlight. It is a moment of introspection for the young woman whose past is largely unknown throughout the film--a sharp contrast to Billy's past which saturates it. When Billy and Layla are sitting on the hotel bed, he confesses his broken heart to her--even though Wendy didn't like him very much, and would even make fun of him, his heart still pined for her. It is a moment filled with authenticity and verisimilitude, instantly recognizable to any man who has experienced that same sour mix of wistful longing and humiliation. It is the crumbling of ramparts that reveals Billy's vulnerability; he can only share this with Layla, a woman who--in spite of everything--cares for him. Whether that affection is just a means to save him from doing something terribly stupid or if it comes from that weird alchemy called love that turns leadened hearts into gold is up to the audience to decide.
Recommended for: Fans of a heady mix of comedy and drama, one that explores the complicated psychology of an emotionally guarded man-child who miraculously finds sympathy from the beautiful young woman he abducts and ropes into a hair-brained scheme. The abduction-turned-romance between Billy and Layla is reminiscent of Pedro Almodovar's Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, and his depiction of Billy Brown in Buffalo '66 is of a sensitive loner who puts on a gruff exterior, drawing comparisons as varied as James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, Robert De Niro from Taxi Driver, or perhaps even Tommy Wiseau's from the notorious The Room.
Flashbacks from Billy's past crop up during his visit with his parents--traumatic episodes including when Jimmy strangled his pet puppy, Bingo, for urinating in the house, and when his mother fed him chocolate despite being allergic; Jan also tries to give him chocolate donuts as an adult. Buffalo '66 opens with a photograph of a young Billy (played by John Sansone) ostensibly in happier days--or at least before his childhood scars proved too much to bear, and turned him into the vicious, skeezy tramp he acts like. Billy's horrible upbringing wasn't limited to his family; he had a crush on a girl named Wendy Balsam in elementary school--this is the same name he makes Layla adopt when he introduces her as his wife. Billy has the misfortune of running into her at a Denny's years later (played by Rosanna Arquette), where she demeans Billy--intentional or otherwise--rubbing salt into his wounded heart. He even turns out to be innocent of the ambiguous crime which got Billy sent to the big house; he took the rap for some acquaintance of a sleazy bookie (Mickey Rourke) after failing to repay a bad bet he made on the Bills in the Superbowl to the tune of ten-thousand dollars. One would think that all of this pain and suffering would make Billy more sympathetic, but that's not how hurt works. Billy is rough and demeaning to Layla virtually from start to finish; he even barks orders at her about cleaning off the windshield of her own car which he steals. All Billy has learned is that it's better to hurt someone before they can hurt you.
Layla's role in Buffalo '66 is fundamentally like that of a guardian angel, albeit one who is ill-used by Billy. She has an ethereal quality that never quite feels at home with the rest of the film's portrayal of Buffalo, New York. Dressed in a low-cut blouse and matching fishnet leggings, and in silver sequined heels, it would be forgivable to believe that Layla moonlights as a prostitute--her outfit is a bit provocative and leaves a lot of skin exposed for a New York winter. Layla possesses a saintly level of understanding and accommodates Billy's whims, even when he is cruel to her. She has multiple chances to escape Billy's clutches at the tap studio and afterwards, but doesn't. Why not? She actually likes him, even before she confesses it. Consider a moment after he relieves himself against a tree and she doesn't seize the opportunity to drive off and report him to the police. He comes back to the car and apologizes for, y'know, kidnapping her...and pulling on her hair...and yelling at her. The camera lingers on Layla's beautiful face; beneath the powder blue eye shadow, her eyes--well, Christina Ricci's eyes, who always seems wise beyond her years--convey a look of compassion and even concern for someone who resorts to such drastic means just to reunite with his parents. From this moment, Layla understands that she is the only person who could save Billy from himself.
Following his bad bet on the Bills, Billy has convinced himself that the kicker who missed a crucial field goal did so because he was bribed to throw the game. Of course this paranoid fantasy isn't true, but it is the only way Billy can justify why his life--which was already so miserable--could get worse; all he wanted was to win big for his mother, thinking that he could win his way back into her heart. Logic dictates that Layla should remove herself from this potentially volatile encounter, but her heart is big and she allows herself to shoulder Billy's burden. She makes every meaningful effort--without sarcasm--to "talk him up" to his parents, going so far as to invent stories about how they met "at the CIA", and that she is pregnant with Billy's baby. She beyond the call of duty, enduring eating tripe--despite telling Billy she was a vegetarian--and dealing with Jimmy's unsubtle molestations. She follows him to the bowling alley--the only place where Billy seems to be truly at peace, priding himself on his prowess at throwing "rocks". She comes to his rescue after he is visibly threatened by Wendy's presence, though he shortly curses her out afterwards. Despite everything, she stays with him all the way to the end, trying to entice him into physical contact by taking a bath with him or just holding his hand. For all that this might play out like some elaborate sexual fantasy, Layla's advances are sympathetic first and foremost; she is trying to rekindle his humanity, long since hidden away behind the fortifications surrounding his heart. One of the most poignant (and hysterical) moments in Buffalo '66 comes when Billy tries to get Layla to take a series of photo booth pictures with him, so that she can parse out the snapshots over the years to his parents to "span time". The outline of a touching moment of genuine romance forms, but is ruined by Billy's domineering attitude and impatience. He tries to get her to pretend she's having a good time, paradoxically by ruining the actual fun she's having with him; he misses it entirely when she tells him, "I do like you, Billy".
There are moments of soft beauty and heartfelt emotion in Buffalo '66, between the ones where Billy is acting like an insufferable jerk. Layla has a moment in the bowling alley after the pins need to be reset manually, where she performs a tap dance in the hazy glow of a spotlight. It is a moment of introspection for the young woman whose past is largely unknown throughout the film--a sharp contrast to Billy's past which saturates it. When Billy and Layla are sitting on the hotel bed, he confesses his broken heart to her--even though Wendy didn't like him very much, and would even make fun of him, his heart still pined for her. It is a moment filled with authenticity and verisimilitude, instantly recognizable to any man who has experienced that same sour mix of wistful longing and humiliation. It is the crumbling of ramparts that reveals Billy's vulnerability; he can only share this with Layla, a woman who--in spite of everything--cares for him. Whether that affection is just a means to save him from doing something terribly stupid or if it comes from that weird alchemy called love that turns leadened hearts into gold is up to the audience to decide.
Recommended for: Fans of a heady mix of comedy and drama, one that explores the complicated psychology of an emotionally guarded man-child who miraculously finds sympathy from the beautiful young woman he abducts and ropes into a hair-brained scheme. The abduction-turned-romance between Billy and Layla is reminiscent of Pedro Almodovar's Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, and his depiction of Billy Brown in Buffalo '66 is of a sensitive loner who puts on a gruff exterior, drawing comparisons as varied as James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, Robert De Niro from Taxi Driver, or perhaps even Tommy Wiseau's from the notorious The Room.