Buffalo '66

USA, Canada | 1998, 105 min. | director and screenplay: Vincent Gallo | DoP: Lance Acord |screenplay: Vincent Gallo | cast: Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Rourke, Rosanna Arquette, Jan-Michael Vincent, Anjelica Huston, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Corrigan, Alex Karras

It's winter and Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) has just been released after a five-year prison stint into the bleak landscape of an industrial area outside of Buffalo. He heads home to his parents' house who don't know where he's been for the last five years. But he wants to return as the prodigal son who's been off on CIA secret missions rather than the ex-con he is. And he wants to return with a beautiful wife, so he abducts a young tap dancer (Christina Ricci) and forces her to play that wife. Layla is young and slightly deluded and takes to the role with remarkable vigour. However, Billy's main plan is to find and kill the American footballer who, he feels, ruined his life. A powerful drama of modern alienation by Vincent Gallo, the ego star of the American art scene. The film shines as a testimony to the independent spirit of film-making gone by.