By Melissa Antoinette Garza
It’s funny how a decade can change one’s perspective. On October 8, 2002, I wrote a review on Amazon about this movie. At that time, I thought it was a brilliant and Vincent Gallo was brilliant. I called it an “honest love story” with “raw emotion.” I think I was a very young and naive 22 year old and I was taken by the intensity of the movie.
This isn’t to say that the movie is terrible. It’s artistic, it’s moving and it even has a solid story. The problem lies in the fact that it is a misogynistic movie which sends the message, ‘if you love your abuser enough, he’ll stop.’ That’s a dangerous message to send.
Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) is a man released from prison. His parents think he moved, had a good job and got married. They want to see him and his wife. Alone, he panics and violently kidnaps Layla (Christina Ricci). She plays the all-too-willing victim and quickly falls for him. She sees him as a victim and in many ways he is.
His parents Jan (Angelica Husten) and Jimmy (Ben Gazzara) are psychotic. His father hugs Layla too close
rubbing his face in her breasts. In flashbacks, Jimmy kills young Billy’s dog right in front of him and Jan tells him to put ice on his face for an allergic reaction when it’s clear from his extremely swollen cheeks medical attention is needed. When Layla asks to see pictures of Billy, Jan brings out a huge photo album of pictures but only of Jan, Jimmy and celebrities. There is only one picture of Billy and it’s tattered.
Another slight to Billy was his youthful crush Wendy (Rosanna Arquette) who would make fun of him for staring at her. He told Layla that she was his first girlfriend but she soon realizes that not only didn’t he date her, but he hasn’t had any girlfriends.
During the film there is also a side-story where Billy intends to kill the man he believes is responsible for putting him in jail. Believing he has nothing anyways, he doesn’t see a reason to live. Slowly, Layla’s love changes that and changes him to a point where at the end they may have a chance together.
Still, the level of emotional abuse that Layla endured makes Billy’s transition into a decent guy less credible. Layla definitely serves as Billy’s salvation, but when he says in the beginning that he’s going to chew her cheek off and kill her, it’s difficult to cheer.
The moral of the film is one that has been said again and again but never gets old. Love can heal old wounds.
Billy and Layla are the protagonists of the film, but having the lead threaten to bite her cheek off and to kill her makes it difficult to cheer for their reunion. Even though he makes a complete turnaround at the end, his initial abuse is unforgivable and left unaddressed.
Vincent Gallo has a level of genius within him. I think that it is often misused and he works on a personal level using his art to somehow heal himself. In an interview in 2001 conducted by Anthony Kaufman, Gallo denied that this was autobiographical, but has stated that his parents were similar to those within the movie. This interview is available on his website www.VincentGallo.com.
I can only judge Gallo’s personality from the interviews he has done and what he wrote on his website. Admittedly, that’s minimal but still there have been some very disturbing things he has said which makes me believe that the Billy Brown we see in the beginning of the movie is very close to the real Gallo.
He has stated that his dog was the only woman that has never lied to him. He’s made racist, misogynistic, and
homophobic statements.
Oddly, I found that Gallo is selling himself online. He will have sex with any woman for $50k. He states, “Heavy set, older, red heads and even black chicks can have me if they can pay the bill.” I don’t know if this is a joke or not. I hope so but the conditions he sets are so strict including taking a test to prove that the client is STD free.
He’s also selling his sperm for $1 million dollars and strict conditions are listed including the offspring cannot carry the Gallo name. If one doesn’t want to do it artificially and want to just have sex with Gallo they can do so for an extra $500k.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that Vincent Gallo is messed up. I mean it’s definitely one way to make money, but he seems like the most insecure guy in the world. He advises that one should make sure they see The Brown Bunny to ensure they can handle him. As much as Gallo talks about his penis, I’m starting to believe the claim that New York Post reviewer Frank Scheck made. He stated that the willy that Chloe Sevigny performed fellatio on was fake. Whether fake or real, it’s no Tommy Lee.
Though I know differently, I really wish all women had enough self-respect and dignity to not give his offers a second thought, I’m sure there is a lot of mentally ill women who would lay down their savings to have a night with this (for lack of a better word) douchebag.
For years I loved BUFALLO 66. I believed it was an artistic expression of the ramifications of child abuse and how love can cure the broken. In a way it is, but when one finds out that Gallo himself shares all the biased views of Brown, it takes away from the evolution of the character. Instead, we’re left with a self-expression of a man who is very insecure and very disrespectful.
Gallo may be a genius but he’s not a good person and I believe the latter is far more important.
The other actors in the film did extremely well. Christina Ricci is one of my favorite actresses. If ever they do a film based on The Joker’s girlfriend Harley Quinn, I would love to see her cast. Many people have said that Zooey Deschanel would be a good choice but I’m in the minority of people who can’t stand her. I think her quirkiness is a complete fraud and that she’s a hipster who is a one-trick pony and the one-trick is getting old.
As for BUFALLO 66, I would definitely give it a go. I would try to watch it and keep Gallo’s views out of your mind. The movie is a guilty pleasure and a go-to favorite of mine. I love it. I know their relationship is brutal and dysfunctional, but I get sucked into it every time.
Overall Rating: 8/10
