Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student Layla and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his girlfriend and they will soon marry.
Acting
Ricci's deadpan saintliness against Gallo's live-wire hostility.
Cinematography
Harsh winter whites that make Buffalo feel like purgatory.
Direction
Gallo's narcissism somehow serves the story's claustrophobia.
Director
Vincent Gallo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Gallo was so broke he filmed his own parents' house and used their actual friends as extras. The unpaid bowling alley? Real location, real danger of being kicked out.
This film is essentially the missing link between Cassavetes' 'A Woman Under the Influence' and early 2000s mumblecore — proof that emotional violence can be shot on 16mm.
US
