Living in Oblivion

Dermot Mulroney is co-producer of Tom DiCillo's low-budget film, in which he and his girlfriend, Catherine Keener, also have prominent roles. The lead role, however, belongs to Steve Buscemi as the hapless director Nick Reve. The film shows three episodes about the shooting of Nick's film. The disastrous shoot in the first episode takes place in Nick's nightmare. Things go even worse in the female star Nicole's dream, where such great discord arises between her and the male star Chad Palomino that he packs up his things and walks out. The real shoot succeeds only by the skin of its teeth. Potential disasters are lurking all the time.

Living in Oblivion is the very definition of a metafilm, as it is about shooting a film and not least about the obstacles such a project can involve. There is not much forward-moving plot in the film, which thrives on situation comedy and its funny characters.