So Steve Buscemi made one of the best directorial debuts of all time and nobody told me about it? What he achieved in these two hours is truly jaw-dropping, this role is easily the best acting performance I’ve ever seen him give, his script is fantastic and feels incredibly authentic at every turn, and his directorial vision, which I was most skeptic of out of those three, was actually my favorite thing about the film. Buscemi’s story is one that makes you think, Tommy is the definition of a low-life scumbag who screws over any and anyone he possibly can yet the script and story make you feel a level of sympathy for him. To me it seems Tommy’s life at this point is blindly grasping at anything that has a chance of making him feel but his cruelness and disregard for those around him makes it tough to truly care, it’s easily one of the most conflicting main character depictions in terms of sympathy vs. hatred that I’ve seen. At the end of the day the sympathy I feel is more frustration towards humanity as a whole for how we allow people to sink to this level and not so much for Tommy as a person, either way though it really made me think and I love that about a movie. Beyond the story it’s also a fantastic piece of filmmaking with every shot here having that beautiful feeling of intentionality and I loved how Buscemi let some of them breathe longer than I’d expect from a first-time director, and with the impressive score from Evan Lurie it makes for an amazing technical experience to go with the amazing story. I was also a big fan of pretty much every supporting role and the people bringing them to life, with Chloë Sevigny, Anthony LaPaglia, Mark Boone Junior, Carol Kane, and Daniel Baldwin all being very good next to Buscemi and all had good chemistry with him. I will say for a small issue with the cast I wanted more from Samuel L. Jackson and Lawrence Gillard Jr.’s characters, they were a lot of fun in the scene they had and I think incorporating them into the story beyond that could’ve made this an even better experience. This was a random impulse watch that I now couldn’t be more thankful for, since I know and understand my taste in movies so well at this point the reminder that I’m still capable of being so surprised by a movie’s quality and the effect it has on me feels amazing and gives me the perfect boost to get out of this little slump I’ve been dealing with in the past few days.
So Steve Buscemi made one of the best directorial debuts of all time and nobody told me about it? What he achieved in these two hours is truly jaw-dropping, this role is easily the best acting performance I’ve ever seen him give, his script is fantastic and feels incredibly authentic at every turn, and his directorial vision, which I was most skeptic of out of those three, was actually my favorite thing about the film. Buscemi’s story is one that makes you think, Tommy is the definition of a low-life scumbag who screws over any and anyone he possibly can yet the script and story make you feel a level of sympathy for him. To me it seems Tommy’s life at this point is blindly grasping at anything that has a chance of making him feel but his cruelness and disregard for those around him makes it tough to truly care, it’s easily one of the most conflicting main character depictions in terms of sympathy vs. hatred that I’ve seen. At the end of the day the sympathy I feel is more frustration towards humanity as a whole for how we allow people to sink to this level and not so much for Tommy as a person, either way though it really made me think and I love that about a movie. Beyond the story it’s also a fantastic piece of filmmaking with every shot here having that beautiful feeling of intentionality and I loved how Buscemi let some of them breathe longer than I’d expect from a first-time director, and with the impressive score from Evan Lurie it makes for an amazing technical experience to go with the amazing story. I was also a big fan of pretty much every supporting role and the people bringing them to life, with Chloë Sevigny, Anthony LaPaglia, Mark Boone Junior, Carol Kane, and Daniel Baldwin all being very good next to Buscemi and all had good chemistry with him. I will say for a small issue with the cast I wanted more from Samuel L. Jackson and Lawrence Gillard Jr.’s characters, they were a lot of fun in the scene they had and I think incorporating them into the story beyond that could’ve made this an even better experience. This was a random impulse watch that I now couldn’t be more thankful for, since I know and understand my taste in movies so well at this point the reminder that I’m still capable of being so surprised by a movie’s quality and the effect it has on me feels amazing and gives me the perfect boost to get out of this little slump I’ve been dealing with in the past few days.
