American Buffalo (1996)

American Buffalo (Michael Corrente, 1996)
A fierce portrayal of working class greed and American entitlement.  Dustin Hoffman and Dennis Franz are tremendous, finding the reality of their characters behind and through all the obscenities and Mametian turns of phrase.  Hoffman is the Ratso Rizzo that didn't die on a bus on the way to Miami.  Franz is more conflicted, trying to justify himself by maintaining an air of humanism while playing up his uncertainty.

Michael Corrente plays it cool, not "opening up" the stage play too much while also avoiding a collage of close-ups.  It is foolish to pretend that the film is not just two people (sometimes three) talking to each other, so he stages the action well within the space and ends up saving his close-ups for the moments they are truly needed.  Corrente may not be as bold in his camera placement as Mike Nichols in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (who is?), but he doesn't have to be.  He crafts a swirling, claustrophobic film with two swirling, claustrophobic characters at its core.  

Trapped within their pattern without ever talking about it -- they speak bigger than they are.
It needs to be stripped down and raw.  Remove the artifice to get at what's real.

Business.  Businessmen.  Selling junk.
They would hate to miss something valuable.
They don't want to miss that margin of profit.
I like to imagine Mamet writing a companion piece to this, with two older ladies in a craft store.
American Wreath.

Hoffman has jumped in head first: always talking, always moving, always shifting, always blaming....
Is "Teach" an ironic nickname?
It's Donny who teaches.  Bobby learns by example -- and it costs him.

Do what I say not as I do.  Typical American attitude.
The storm may be coming but that only slows them down.
We can still get what we want.  Maybe.
We need to be sure.

Loyalty is marketing.  Brand image.  A thing to cultivate in customers.
Do what you can to make what you can.
It doesn't have to be cutthroat to be damaging.
Main Street can be just as brutal as Wall Street.

Mamet thinks it is.

film journal entry: 04.19.2013