Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student Layla and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his girlfriend and they will soon marry.
Buffalo '66 is a fiercely idiosyncratic debut from Vincent Gallo — its fractured, hyper-stylized cinematography (split screens, freeze frames, blown-out Super 8 aesthetics) gives it an unmistakable visual identity. Gallo and Christina Ricci deliver raw, oddly compelling performances, and the film's off-kilter emotional register is genuinely singular. The plot is thin and episodic by design, functioning more as a character excavation than a narrative engine, which limits its score. The ending, while tonally fitting, feels abrupt and somewhat unresolved — satisfying in mood but a little convenient in execution. Novelty is very high: few American indie films of the era have this precise, wounded voice.