Steve Buscemi

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Joel and Ethan Coen’s Fargo is a refreshingly original and complexly taut film that operates on a multifaceted level that is, all at once: compelling, macabre, funny, tragic, and even romantic. From the opening sequence of a car navigating agilely through an endless snow covered road with a car in tow, the Coen brothers deftly craft a highly engaging and comically sinister contemporary masterpiece. Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a Minneapolis car salesman, arranges to meet with two petty criminals in a Fargo bar, Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare).Read More »

“Had The Death of Stalin been made in the 1950s, it might have been called Carry on Comrade—and yet it suggests the venerable mantra, “think Yiddish, act” (or “dress” or “look”) “British.” The Death of Stalin is not as funny or as transgressive as The Producers but it has some of the same flavor. The spirit is less that of a Punch and Judy show than a Purimshpiel—particularly those Purim plays that, performed for and by Holocaust survivors in the immediate aftermath of WWII, conflated Haman with Hitler.Read More »

A young man goes to prison and a tough, older convict takes him under his wing as a mentor.Read More »

A Tom Waits song in movie form, Steve Buscemi’s directorial debut is a semi-autobiographical account of a barfly in his thirties who inherits an ice cream truck. The impressive extended cast includes Carol Kane, Anthony LaPaglia, Mimi Rogers, Seymour Cassel, the lovely Eszter Balint, and many others.Read More »

This ultimate tribute to all independent filmmakers takes place during one day on the set of a non-budget movie.Read More »

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With only the plan of moving in together after high school, two unusually devious friends seek direction in life. As a mere gag, they respond to a man’s newspaper ad for a date, only to find it will greatly complicate their lives.Read More »

Soup’ Dreams

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Essentially a retread of The Freshman (1990) on a much lower budget, In the Soup concerns a young wannabe filmmaker, Adolfo Rollo (Steve Buscemi) who becomes mixed up with a gangster-type, Joe (Seymour Cassell) in the name of financing his first film.

Very little filmmaking occurs, though. What really happens is the old story of the life-loving older guy teaching the high-strung younger fellow a thing or two about living.

Yes, it’s an old story that has been told a thousand times before and since, but Alexandre Rockwell’s little film has a home movie charm and a streetwise wit that make it a must-see sleeper.Read More »