Buffalo '66

The signpost says Buffalo, but we're in John Cassavettes territory. Actor Vincent Gallo's precocious directorial debut is raw and in-your-face with the quirky characters and implausible situations now common in independent film. Gallo, who comes across as a frantic cross between Quentin Tarantino and Steve Buscemi, stars as Billy Brown, fresh out of prison and out for revenge against the Buffalo Bills' placekicker whose missed field goal cost him $10,000 he didn't have and led to him spending five years in prison for another crime to compensate his bookie. But first he's going home. He kidnaps Layla, a tap-dancing student (Christina Ricci) and forces her to pretend she is his wife for the benefit of his football-obsessed mom (Anjelica Huston), still bitter that Billy's birth caused her to miss the Super Bowl, and indifferent dad (Ben Gazarra), a failed lounge singer. Gallo is clearly wrestling with some demons here (he reportedly filmed in his childhood home and that's his own father on the record to which Gazarra lip-synchs). Elliptical jump cuts vividly convey family dysfunction and the arresting picture-within-picture device fill in the missing pieces of Billy's past. Ricci is left to tapdance around her underdeveloped character. Why she doesn't just drive away from Billy when she clearly has the chance is a mystery.Optional. (K. Lee Benson)