Tom DiCillo Movies
A filmmaker who was heralded as one of the most exciting members of the 1990's independent film scene, cinematographer-turned-director Tom Di Cillo first made his name as the man behind Johnny Suede, the 1992 film that helped introduce the world to Brad Pitt. Di Cillo subsequently built his reputation with a series of darkly comic, resolutely quirky films, most notably Living in Oblivion (1995). An intensely funny and painfully accurate look at the world of low-budget independent filmmaking that was partially based on Di Cillo's own experiences, the film caused quite a sensation at the 1995 Sundance Festival, where its director was awarded with two screenwriting prizes.Born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1954, Di Cillo studied filmmaking at New York University's Film School. After earning his master's degree in 1976, he decided to pursue a career as an actor, but after struggling for eight years -- during which he painted apartments and waited tables to support himself -- he abandoned acting for work behind the camera. Di Cillo got his start as a cinematographer for NYU classmate Jim Jarmusch's Permanent Vacation (1982) and Stranger Than Paradise (1984), the latter of which became an international sensation after it came out of nowhere to win a Camera D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Di Cillo worked for several years as a cinematographer but eventually grew weary of his subordinate position. Opting to direct instead, he made his feature debut with 1992's Johnny Suede. The story of an aspiring and profoundly naive rock star, it starred Brad Pitt as its titular rebel without a clue and Di Cillo muse Catherine Keener as the woman who teaches him a few basic lessons in life. Unfortunately, after enjoying what amounted to a two-week run in a few New York art houses, the film was relegated to general obscurity.
Profoundly affected by the experience of making Johnny Suede, Di Cillo used it as the basis for his 1995 follow-up, Living in Oblivion. A darkly satirical but ultimately redemptive piece, one of its greatest highlights was James Le Gros' portrayal of a narcissistic, irretrievably moronic actor based on Johnny Suede star Brad Pitt. Steve Buscemi and Catherine Keener also gave stand-out performances as the film's harried director and frustrated lead actress, and, buoyed by such high quality work, Living in Oblivion went on to win an enthusiastic reception at a number of international film festivals.
The success of Living in Oblivion established Di Cillo's reputation as a provocative new director, a reputation he furthered with his next feature, 1996's Box of Moonlight. Resting on a foundation of amiable whimsy rather than the kind of angry satire from which Living in Oblivion had built its strength, the film was the story of a burnt-out engineer (John Turturro) who retreats to the wilds of Appalachia, where he encounters such characters as the Kid (Sam Rockwell), a vagabond who lives in a magical trailer. Critics noted that Box of Moonlight was, given Di Cillo's previous work, surprisingly free of cynicism, and reacted to it in a fairly positive manner.
Di Cillo next made his most widely hyped film to date, 1997's The Real Blonde. Featuring a large ensemble cast that included Keener, Matthew Modine, Kathleen Turner, Daryl Hannah, Elizabeth Berkley, and Marlo Thomas, the film was another pointed satire, this time aimed at the acting and fashion worlds. Although not received as warmly as Di Cillo's previous films, it earned a number of positive reviews that reiterated the director's standing as one of the independent film world's more interesting voices. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- 2009
- R
- Add When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors to Queue Add When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors to top of Queue
The Doors were very much a band of their time, a group whose music reflected the social and political upheaval of the late '60s and early '70s, and yet their appeal has endured thanks to the hypnotic music of guitarist Robby Krieger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and drummer John Densmore as well as the magisterial power of lead vocalist and lyricist Jim Morrison. The group's moment in the spotlight was short -- their debut album was released in early 1967, and Morrison would die in Paris in the summer of 1971 -- but their music and image continues to fascinate music fans, and filmmaker Tom DiCillo explores the Doors and their times in the documentary When You're Strange. Featuring rare footage from the archives of Paul Ferrara, a filmmaker who struck up a friendship with Morrison when they were both attending UCLA, When You're Strange also includes excerpts from HWY: An American Pastoral, a short film Morrison directed in 1969. When You're Strange was an official selection at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp
Writer/director Tom DiCillo's satire Delirious (2006) eviscerates Hollywood celebrity and celebrity types with a relentlessly dissecting gaze and take-no-prisoners humor. DiCillo mainstay Steve Buscemi stars as Les Galantine, a sleazy and merciless tabloid photographer from the Big Apple, whose most noteworthy accomplishments are an image of Goldie Hawn eating lunch and one of Elvis Costello sans any headwear. Les is hoping desperately for his ticket in -- which he perceives as a prize shot of pop sensation K'Harma Leeds (Alison Lohman) as she's departing from a local club. He finds that ticket -- sort-of -- in the form of Toby (Michael Pitt), a homeless young man with serious acting aspirations, who has a very brief exchange with K'Harma under his belt. Toby uses that exchange to finagle his way to an assistantship under Galantine, and the two team up for a stakeout, managing to swing 700 dollars for a photo of a celebrity who is recovering from penis surgery. While DiCillo cuts between the adventures of the two men and the vapid lifestyle of the untalented hack K'Harma, Toby begins his meteoric rise to the top of the Hollywood trash heap by attending a Soap Stars Against STD Convention, where he not only meets and impresses a big-shot casting director (Gina Gershon) but runs into K'Harma once again -- recently split from her beau -- and finds his way into her bed, setting the stage for his own ascent to superstardom. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, (more)
- 2003
Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is called in to investigate the supposedly accidental" death of of Elliot D'Souza (Mark Tymchyshyn), chief financial officer for the notorious girlie magazine "Sapphire". Elliot's secretary Miss Luden (Fay Masterson) is convinced that he was murdered by Sapphire's publisher Dexter Larsen (Gary Cole)--who, naturally, has the usual airtight alibi. Complicating matters so far as Monk is concerned is the fact that his nurse-assistant Sharona (Bitty Schram) once posed nude for "Sapphire" and is trying to keep this secret from her son. And then there's the curious omnipresence of Dexter's current house guest...Danny Bonaduce! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Jim Jarmusch's black-and-white feature Coffee and Cigarettes contains three vignettes originally released as short films along with separate yet somewhat related sketches. As the title suggests, most of the vignettes involve famous people smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. The first, "Coffee and Cigarettes," is a six-minute short from 1986 starring Stephen Wright and Roberto Benigni. The 1989 installment, "Memphis Version," stars Steve Buscemi, Joie Lee, and Cinqué Lee. The award-winning 1993 segment, "Somewhere in California," stars musicians Iggy Pop and Tom Waits. The remaining sketches include Cate Blanchett performing a duel role, a conversation with Bill Murray and members of the Wu-Tang Clan, and Alfred Molina and British television actor Steve Coogan as themselves. In its full-length version form, Coffee and Cigarettes was shown at the 2003 Venice Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, (more)
A cop tries to sort out his personal life while a wave of odd behavior sweeps through his apartment building in this quirky comedy. Ray Pluto (Dennis Leary) is a New York City police detective who has been in an emotional slump since his wife and daughter died in an accident several years earlier. Ray's mood isn't lightened at all when he and his partner Jerry Cubbins (Steve Buscemi) stop into a fast food restaurant just as an armed robbery is taking place. Ray throws out his back while reaching for his gun and drops the weapon; a child who picks up the gun and kills the intruders is declared a hero in the press, while Ray is dubbed "the loser cop." Put on medical leave, Ray sinks deeper into a funk until he starts seeing a chiropractor for his bad back; the beautiful Dr. Ann Beamer (Elizabeth Hurley) begins kneading the kinks out of Ray's spine and starts him thinking about a new romance. Meanwhile, Juan Benitez (Luis Guzman) is the superintendent of Ray's apartment building, and he's not been getting along well with his teenage daughter Maribel (Melonie Diaz), who has a wild streak and refuses to obey her father's strict rules. Maribel is no happier with her father, and decides to do something about their relationship -- she hires two men to assassinate her dad. And elsewhere in the same building, a pair of would-be screenwriters (Donald Faison and Keith Knobbs) wants to ensure the realism of their cops-and-robbers story by going on a little crime spree of their own. Double Whammy had its world premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Denis Leary, Elizabeth Hurley, (more)
The Sundance Channel produced this guided tour through the world of independent films and filmmakers, tossing out the statistic that the movement has escalated from some 50 films in 1985, to 800 in 1997. Interview segments include Sundance fest director Geoffrey Gilmore, fest programmer Bob Hawk, writer-director Greg Mottola, producer Steven Soderbergh, critic Roger Ebert, and directors Sydney Pollack and Kevin Smith. Filmed in L.A., N.Y., and Park City, Utah, this hour-long documentary premiered on the Sundance Channel on January 15, 1997, the opening night of the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
This romantic comedy from writer and director Tom DiCillo follows some New York City pals seeking authenticity with the real blonde, a symbol of amorous perfection. Joe (Matthew Modine) is an out-of-work actor struggling for even bit parts in Madonna music videos by groveling in front of a high-powered agent (Kathleen Turner), while his makeup artist girlfriend Mary (Catherine Keener) pays the bills. After six years of cohabitation, Joe's lack of success is wearing on their relationship. In the meantime, Joe's friend and fellow actor Bob (Maxwell Caulfield) has finally hit the jackpot with a role on a soap opera opposite the beautiful Kelly (Daryl Hannah), who just might be the real blonde of his dreams. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Matthew Modine, Catherine Keener, (more)
In this whimsically absurd comedy, Al Fountain (John Turturro) is an rigidly self-controlled electrical engineer who has discovered his first gray hair and has begun seeing things (bicycles running backwards, coffee pouring from the cup into the pot). To Al's shock, he's fired without notice from his job and told to go home. Instead, he rents a car and heads out in search of Splatchee Lake, a vacation spot he remembers visiting as a child (and one of the few places where he ever felt truly content). Al discovers that the lake is too polluted to swim in, but he finds The Kid (Sam Rockwell), a genial eccentric who wears a coonskin cap and lives in the woods with a large collection of junk scavenged from trash heaps. The Kid encourages Al to be spontaneous and take some chances in his life; an opportunity to do so presents itself when Dupree sisters Floatie (Catherine Keener) and Purlene (Lisa Blount) appear, and love (or a reasonable facsimile) is in the air. Writer/director Tom DiCillo had originally intended this project to follow his debut feature, the hipster comedy Johnny Suede, but problems with financing and production delays led him to make the indie film satire Living in Oblivion first. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Turturro, Sam Rockwell, (more)
Following up his debut, Johnny Suede, director Tom DiCillo presented this filmmaking comedy that allegedly draws much from DiCillo's experiences on the set of the 1991 Brad Pitt vehicle. Steve Buscemi stars as Nick Reve, the long-suffering director of a no-budget independent film. If he's not dealing with his heartbroken director of photography Wolf (Dermot Mulroney), Reve is trying to keep his leading lady Nicole (DiCillo mainstay Catherine Keener) happy or ignore the pseudo-auteur suggestions of Pitt-inspired name-actor Chad Palomino (James LeGros). All the while, the audience can't ever be sure if the scene they're watching is a dream or reality. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, (more)
Tom DiCillo directed this surrealistic black comedy starring Brad Pitt as Johnny Suede, a young man with an attitude and an immense pompadour, who wants to be a rock n' roll star like his idol Ricky Nelson. He has all the stylistic accouterments, except a pair of black suede shoes. And one night, after leaving a nightclub, like manna from heaven, a pair of black suede shoes falls at his feet. Soon afterwards, the recently completed Johnny meets Darlette (Alison Moir), a sultry bohemian whom he beds down for the night. In spite of Darlette's abusive boyfriend with a gun, Johnny begins to see Darlette everyday. But when Johnny is forced to pawn his guitar for rent money, Darlette mysteriously leaves him. Johnny's pal Deke (Calvin Levels) fronts him the money to get his guitar out of hock, and the two form a band. Depressed about Darlette's desertion, he wanders aimlessly, and he meets Yvonne (Catherine Keener), a woman much wiser than Johnny who teaches him that there are things in life much more important than a pair of black suede shoes. DiCillo based his independent comedy Living in Oblivion upon his experiences working with Brad Pitt on this film. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brad Pitt, Calvin Levels, (more)
- 1990
In this black and white independent melodrama, Joe Belinsky (Eric Mitchell) doesn't know how to cope with his wife's pregnancy and his loss of an insurance agency job, and feels adrift. As a consequence of that, he takes a job working the counter of a low-cost, somewhat hip eatery, and meets a French girl with whom he has a brief affair. Though the affair ends, it has created an obsession in him - first with the French girl, and later with slim young women in general. All of them reject him, and he leaves his waiting job to prowl around for these inaccessible beauties. Meanwhile, his wife is having their baby. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eric Mitchell, Audrey Matson, (more)
- 1989
This atmospheric melodrama/thriller tells the odd story of a modern-day Lorelei, a woman who lures others to their doom. In the story, the similarly named Laura Ley (Hilde van Mieghem) is a single mother who works as a chambermaid and has a very unusual hobby. When she is off work and her son has been put to bed, she dresses up in evening gowns and has highly suggestive conversations by CB radio with truck drivers and others far into the night. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hilde Van Mieghem, Tom Jansen, (more)
A subtle metaphor for the increasing depersonalization of Japanese society caused by the country's unending obsession with money making, avant-garde filmmaker Masashi Yamamoto's Robinson's Garden offers a powerful commentary on the relative insignificance of Humanity upon the much older, more enduring world. The story (told not as a straightforward narrative, but rather as a series of exquisitely photographed poetic images) centers on a young woman who, though she earns a middle-class income, augments her salary by dealing drugs. One day, while she is drunk and wandering the streets, she runs across an empty factory. Beside it lies a verdant, beautiful garden. Captivated, the woman moves into the factory, making it a beautiful place filled with gay colors and flashing lights, and she begins tending the garden, making it lovely but keeping it apart from her living space. One day, a tough little street girl shows up and enjoys the garden with the woman. Life in the fantasy world soon consumes the woman and as time passes she becomes increasingly withdrawn from her life in the real world. Eventually she becomes very sick. Too weak to keep the jungle plants of the garden from overtaking her home, delirium forces her to flee the garden and reenter the surrounding city. Unfortunately she finds only visions of her late grandfather. Frightened and without solace, she makes her way back to the haven to meet her fate. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kumiko Ohta, Machizo Machida, (more)
- 1987
Innovative opera composer and director Robert Wilson attempted to create a truly international opera to be performed at the Los Angeles Olympics. Six different composers from six countries were to compose operas from his libretto based on the United States' Civil War. After an initial performance in their countries of origin, they were to be performed in one nine-hour-long epic in Los Angeles during the games. Since the very word "opera" means "work," and the ideal of opera is to join every major art form into one massive undertaking, the ideals of "The Civil War" series of operas parallels the internationalist ideas of the Olympic movement itself. Unfortunately, though the organizers okayed the project and the Olympics Committee agreed to put up matching funds, other funding fell short and the deadlines were not met. Despite that, this extraordinary effort involved casts and composers in Tokyo, Marseilles, Rome, Minneapolis, Rotterdam, and Cologne, with Robert Wilson writing the libretto and directing each of the productions. This documentary begins by considering the composer's life and more innovative works, such as "Einstein on the Beach" and "The Life and Times of Sigmund Freud," and it goes on to document the extraordinary international artistic venture involved in bringing "The Civil War" to life. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1987
This drama is based on a play by Mones and is set within a grim New York neighborhood where a new kid comes to the neighborhood. Unlike the street-wise and life-toughened gang members around him, the youth is a sensitive poet who teaches the kids about the meaning and beauty of life. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Savage, David Jacobson, (more)
Although Jim Jarmusch made his directorial debut with Permanent Vacation (1982), Stranger than Paradise (1984) marked his breakthrough as a major American filmmaker. One of the most deadpan comedies ever committed to film, Stranger than Paradise suggests a Buster Keaton film written by Samuel Beckett and Jack Kerouac and directed by Andy Warhol. Willie (John Lurie) is a small-time gambler whose distant cousin Eva (Eszter Balint) is moving to America from Eastern Europe and informs him that she'll need to stay with him for ten days. Willie isn't happy to have Eva around, but after Willie introduces her to the joys of American cigarettes and TV dinners ("You got your meat, you got your potatoes, you got your vegetables, you got your dessert and you don't have to wash the dishes -- this is how we eat in America!"), Eva steals a frozen meal and a pack of smokes from the corner store, and Willie is both surprised and impressed. His buddy Eddie (Richard Edson) happens by, and they hang out with Eva just long enough to develop a fondness for her before she moves on to Ohio, where she'll live with her Aunt Lottie (Cecillia Stark). Months later, Willie and Eddie score $600 in a poker game and decide to visit Eva in Ohio. However, it's the dead of winter, and they have nothing to do except look at the frozen surface of the lake. The three eventually head down to the tacky paradise of Miami, where Willie and Eddie try their luck with the ponies and Eva decides what to do next. Stranger than Paradise is a film that defines the notion, "It's not what you say, but how you say it." Shot in long, static takes, its style is minimalism itself, but the post-beatnik cool of John Lurie, Richard Edson and Eszter Balint somehow betrays the fact that they care about each other, and a loopy charm and subtle but potent humor seeps through the film's stark black-and-white images. Stranger than Paradise began as a short subject which was made possible by German director Wim Wenders, who gave Jarmusch a supply of film stock left over from one of his projects, and it went on to become one of the most influential movies of the 1980s, casting a wide shadow over the new generation of independent American filmmakers to come. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Lurie, Eszter Balint, (more)
- 1983
- R
This biographical documentary on author and eccentric William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch), founder of the Beat Generation literary movement along with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, is roughly divided into two segments. The first part has some witty scenes as the camera follows the author around to his various early haunts in the U.S., London, and Morocco. His friends are interviewed, including an interesting segment with Allen Ginsberg. In the second half of the film Burroughs becomes more of an exhibitionist than a subject, suggesting that discretionary editing would have made a smaller but better final version. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, (more)
Christine (Sandy McLeod) is a ticket-taker at a Manhattan porn cinema. Her ability to separate reel life from real life is seriously impaired in this slow, often silent, and ultimately enigmatic study of a lonely young woman who first despises the porn and then becomes fascinated with it and the clients who attend the shows. Her inclinations become more active than passive after she decides to follow an elegantly turned-out "businessman" from the theater into an adult video shop, where they begin talking and he invites her to a Yankee game (that dates this movie!). Once at the game, the man leaves for a moment, and Christine follows him again, this time to some sort of strange rendezvous. At this point, it is difficult for both Christine and the viewers to distinguish reality from fantasy, leaving everyone in limbo. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sandy McLeod, Will Patton, (more)
- 1980
Jim Jarmusch made his directorial debut with this episodic profile of one troubled hipster trying to make sense of his life. Aloysius Parker (Christopher Parker), known to his friends as "Allie," is a young man with a damaged family background (his mother is in a mental institution and his father has gone missing) and an inability to sleep, causing him to dream while he's awake. After a troubling encounter with his girlfriend (Leila Gastil) and a frustrating visit with his mother, Allie drifts through a strangely under-populated New York City, crossing paths with a sharp-suited street musicians (John Lurie), a middle-aged jazz fan (Frankie Faison), a disturbed Latin woman (Maria Duval) and a popcorn girl at a movie theater (Lisa Rosen) who's fascinated with Eskimos. A chance encounter with a woman with a vintage Ford Mustang gives Allie the opportunity to escape the chaos around him. While Permanent Vacation made the rounds of European film festivals after its completion in 1980, it was all but ignored in the United States, and it wasn't until Jarmusch released Stranger Than Paradise in 1984 that his star began to rise on the independent film scene. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leila Gastil, Maria Duval, (more)
- 1980
The "underground" of the title refers not to crime but to the half-hidden world of two-bit hustlers, "artistic" poseurs, aberrant lifestyles and shattered dreams. Small-time Manhattan opportunist Eric Mitchell latches onto Patti Astor, a once-popular movie star fallen into penury. He briefly lifts her spirits, but in the final analysis betrays her. Astor sorrowfully decides that she'd rather not live any longer. Lensed in 16 millimeter by producer/ director/ star Eric Mitchell, Underground USA is occasionally effective, though for much of the proceedings it suffers from trying too hard to be the Big Apple counterpart to Godard's Breathless. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Patti Astor, Eric Mitchell, (more)
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