"Delirious" looks under a few rocks and unearths a "contemporary fable" ... a sort of "fairy tale."
The second coming of director Tom DiCillo and star Steve Buscemi concerns the slithery lives of paparazzi in Manhattan. The indie movie, predictably, failed to develop much of anything at the boxoffice, but it's good and contains a few terrific performances. Here's hoping "Delirious
Having worked in the Hollywood trades for a couple of decades, I got to know a bunch of celebrity photographers -- the guys who hang out on the red carpets, jostling for Jolie. For the most part, they're cool, especially my pal Alex Berliner.
One big step down on the evolutionary scale are the paparazzi, who flood our corner Starbucks when local attraction Britney Spears stops by for her cappuccino. The ambush photographers are surprisingly young, often still learning English. Their flashes go off like a collective lightning storm. Spooky shit when you're caught up in it.
DiCillo, being a borderline celeb, got into a fight with a paparazzo and then decided to write a film about the lifestyle. "They're the lowest rung of the celebrity game," DiCillo says on his DVD commentary between sips of scotch. "Everyone despises them."
Buscemi, who grabbed indie fame in the director's "Living in Oblivion," didn't want the role as a loser photographer, even though it was written for him. "The guy just seemed a little too creepy for me," Buscemi said. (The actor went on to direct himself in "Interview," a far less interesting film about celebrity journalism.)
Buscemi took the "Delirious" part after a rewrite somewhat humanized Les, the "troll" of our fable.
"He's a lot like Don Knotts on acid," the director says of the photographer. Les encounters a homeless young man, Toby (Michael Pitt), kindly letting the handsome kid crash in his closet and work for no pay.
The fable's princess is K'Harma (Alison Lohman), a pop star with some talent and heart. "People used to be famous for actual things," DiCillo muses. "The fixation on fame is ever bigger but the actual (creative) act has become incidental."
Boy meets girl, creep gets pissed, the celebrity mill does its thing. "Delirious" gets a bit wobbly by act 3, but by then it's built up more than enough goodwill to earn a pass.
This is one of Buscemi's best performances, at least that I've seen. Young Pitt, who played one of the "Dreamers" for Bertolucci, is doubly believable as a bum and a star. Nice job. Lohman and Gina Gershon mix class with humanity. Elvis Costello, for purposes of the movie a prime paparazzi target, plays himself. (EC fans will have fun with the inside jokes about his music. Extra credit: Look for the glasses pose.)
Genius Entertainment has released "Delirious" in a surprisingly good-looking DVD. (The movie was made on the cheap, with hand-held cameras working the streets of Manhattan.) Audio is OK with clear dialogue and a thump for the music.
Extras include a cleverly stylized conversation between director and star as they walk the streets, followed by slinky paparazzi. There's a music video with Lohman, great for fans of the leggy and tacky.
* * *
Ice Cube doesn't get enough credit as a comedic actor, nor does he seem to get the parts he deserves out of Hollywood. Regardless, his production company cranks out some good stuff, such as the minor classics "Friday" and "Barbershop." When that Cube Vision logo pops up, guilty pleasures always follow.
First-time film director David E. Talbert, a big name in urban theater, is a big fan of Cube Vision as well. "Between Ice Cube and (producer) Matt Alvarez, they've taken more black directors to the promised land than you can imagine," he says on the DVD commentary for "First Sunday
The movie, about a church robbery, teams Cube with Tracy Morgan of "SNL" fame. They're a hoot together, with stone-faced Cube anchoring the manic Morgan. "Cube is the quintessential straight man," Talbert says. "The straighter the straight man, the funnier the funny man."
The "First Sunday" story is pure formula, with Cube losing his job and having to come up with 17 large in order to keep his son's mother from moving away with the boy. His hapless partner figures a storefront black church is the place to grab the cash.
There they encounter Katt Williams as a twitchy choir master, who delivers one of the best gospel scenes since James Brown rolled the Blues Brothers. The reluctant criminals take the church regulars hostage, at which point "First Sunday" turns into a play, talkie and ultimately sentimental. The movie sags a bit but gets it together for the feel-good part you know is coming.
Talbert's solo DVD commentary is not to be missed. He's relaxed and spends time on some basic filmmaking problems, tricks and and techniques. Talbert says he was careful about the images he projected of the inner city, including the scenes that emphasized how the Cube character spent time daily with his son.
Other extras include footage of the director's emotional wrap speech, straight from Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. The deleted and extended scenes are well worth a look for fans of the movie, especially the extended massage scene. Nice briefs, man. There's also a trivia track and a quickie making-of.
Sony's single-disc release of "First Sunday" looks and sounds fine, as you'd expect. The movie also is available on Blu-ray.
Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are "Hiya, Kids!! A '50s Saturday Morning" collection from Shout! Factory; "I'm Not There" with the dueling Dylans; the "Twister" Blu-ray; and Magnolia's latest fine set of Oscar-nominated shorts.
New and notable:
Bewitched, season 6 (Paramount)
The Bridges of Madison County (Warner)
Dan Paris (Genius Products)
Delirious (Genius)
First Sunday (Sony)
The 4400: Final Season (Paramount)
Hiya, Kids!! A '50s Saturday Morning (Shout! Factory)
I'm Not There (Weinstein Co./Genius)
Macon County Line (Warner)
The Passion of Greg the Bunny: Best of Film Parodies 2 (Shout! Factory)
Saawariya (Sony)
Square Pegs: The Complete Series (Sony)
Teeth! (Weinstein/Genius)
Twister (Warner)
2007 Academy Award Nominated Short Films (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
Complete list of this week's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org
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