Delirious

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Has there been a better gift to the art form known as cinema than the man named Steve Buscemi? Though he may not be an in-demand leading man, Buscemi has made a career out of playing memorable supporting roles. He´s equally adept at playing the smarmy weasel as he is the charming sad sack or the comic relief character. He´s worked with a veritable who´s who of filmmakers such as Jim Jarmusch, the Coen Brothers, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. His brief appearances are a breath of fresh air even when they´re in lousy Michael Bay and Adam Sandler movies. Buscemi has also managed to carve a niche for himself as an independent filmmaker, having written and directed pictures like "Trees Lounge" and "Interview."

In "Delirious", Buscemi re-teams with writer/director Tom DiCillo. The pair first collaborated on the highly entertaining "Living in Oblivion" which was based on DiCillo´s tortuous efforts in making his debut film, "Johnny Suede", starring a then-unknown Brad Pitt. DiCillo so enjoyed his experiences working with Buscemi that he wrote "Delirious" specifically for the actor. Buscemi plays Les Galantine, a struggling paparazzi in New York City still looking for the money shot that will put him on the map. In his words, the "shot heard ´round the world." Les, along with a flock of other photographers, are parked outside a nightclub one early morn waiting for pop singer K´Harma Leeds (Alison Lohman) to exit. There, he bumps into Toby Grace (Michael Pitt), an aspiring actor who is homeless and doesn´t have two cents to his name. It is this chance meeting that will forever change the lives of Les, Toby and K´Harma.

Toby follows Les around like a stray dog. Les reluctantly allows Toby to spend the night in his dingy apartment and eventually employs him as an assistant. He only does so when Toby offers to work for free. Les graciously converts a closet in his hallway into a bedroom for Toby. Despite living as a glorified hermit and misanthrope, Les warms up to the wide-eyed Toby and teaches him all about celebrities, ritzy nightclubs and fancy shindigs. Les would never admit, to himself or anyone else, that he actually LIKES Toby. One night, the street kid winds up on the arm of K´Harma and spends the entire night with her, leaving Les behind in a cloud of dust. Their relationship is put to the test when Les ingratiates himself into K´Harma´s birthday party and begins snapping pictures. Toby leaves Les for good and as his stock rises as an actor, his former mentor jealously and angrily watches from the sidelines.

DiCillo spent time with one particular paparazzi (who, ironically, was thrown off the set of one of DiCillo´s films) to research the script while drawing inspiration from "Midnight Cowboy." I wouldn´t consider "Delirious" a hard-hitting expose about the life of the paparazzi. Nor is it anything close to the silly, Mel Gibson-produced, revenge film, "Paparazzi." The film is more about the friendship between the two main characters and how it changes the cynical Les. DiCillo does poke fun at the fame machine and the public´s need to make any talentless fool a celebrity. However, that´s not exactly anything new. DiCillo tries to tackle too many subjects when he should have focused on the more intimate symbiosis between Les and Toby. We spend a bit too much time with K´Harma and her struggles with music and love. DiCillo tries to spew some venom towards reality television as we watch Toby become an overnight sensation on his own pseudo-reality show. It´s at this point that we get a little too far off tangent. There´s also a really goofy sequence that sees Toby walk through the streets of NYC in a dream-like trance while blossoms fall from the sky.

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