In the Soup

A neurotic nebbish (Steve Buscemi) lives in two worlds: the fantasy of winning his dream-girl (Jennifer Beals) via a hit movie, and the meager existence he scrapes out from very odd jobs, such as thesping in an arty no-budget flick.

How fitting that Jim Jarmusch has a cameo, because this film is very much a Jarmusch type of movie. Had his name been under the "directed by" heading, I would never have doubted it. Which, I suppose, is a compliment to the real director. You also have to hand it to them for getting such a stellar cast. Buscemi is an indie darling, but Beals had already gone big by this point -- it was brave for her to take this role.

This is not so much a movie about making a movie as it is an underworld film. Not a mob movie, exactly, but definitely people of loose character who walk on the edges of society. And yet, there is something rather charming about them.

Adolpho (Steve Buscemi) is a loser who wants to be a filmmaker. However, his prospects are non-existent and he has two singing gangsters threatening to break his legs unless he pays his rent. His fortune seems to have changed when he finds a guy who likes his work and wants to finance his films. But the more time Adolpho spends with Joe (Seymour Cassel) the more he realizes the guy just ain't right...plus he's a crook. Adolpho is shocked and despite the two guys threatening him, he refuses to work with Joe, as Joe just seems dangerous and bizarre. Joe simply won't take no for an answer. What's next? See the film.

This small black & white independent film is very odd. It's because although it appears to have been made for practically nothing and looks grubby, it has an amazing array of supporting actors. This includes the director Jim Jarmusch (in an acting role), Jennifer Beals, Stanley Tucci, Carol Kane and Sam Rockwell in addition to Cassel and Buscemi. Obviously the filmmakers knew people.

So is it any good? Well, it certainly never is dull as the film is jam-packed full of weird and quirky folks. You just can't ignore them--and they are captivating and it looks, at times, like a Fellini film (he was known for the 'faces' co-starring in his movies). Weird beyond belief the more you watch! The only one who came off poorly, surprisingly, was Tucci, as his accent sounded very strange. The rest were strange but entertaining....as was the entire film! My recommendation is to watch it but turn off your brain...otherwise you're bound to wonder WHAT you are seeing!

"In the Soup" is a nice little gem of a movie. If you liked Steve Buscemi in "Ghost World" you should like him here because he is basically playing the same perpetually dour and befuddled character. And if you liked "Ghost World" in general you should like "In the Soup" because they have a similar theme and storyline. They both focus on a character being taught how to live by the example of another character. "In the Soup" does not have "Ghost Story's" ironic twist (where the teacher is the one who actually learns how to live). It is more straightforward and not as clever but is still light years more intelligent than most mainstream films.

Buscemi's character needs a producer for his 500-page screenplay with quirky features like beginning with a 20 minute black leader (just a blank screen) to introduce his lead character's blindness. He intends to cast his neighbor (and unrequited love interest) Jennifer Beals who barely acknowledges his existence although he sleeps with her shoe under his pillow. Buscemi gets "in the soup" when he hooks up with a gangster who wants to produce the film. Seymour Cassell plays the gangster with an infectious gusto that deservedly won Sundance Festival's Best Actor Award. All three performances are excellent, as is a brief appearance by Carol Kane as the co-producer of an access TV show featuring nude interviews (The Naked Truth).

If all this sounds to you like it could be fun you are this film's target audience.

Shooting in black-and-white on a tight budget Director Alexandre Rockwell has put together a funny feature with a lot of charm. The production values are first-class. More importantly he has told a worthwhile story and communicated useful lessons to apply to the process of living.

In the Soup was a part of the 1992 Sundance selection, one of the various efforts engulfed by the wave of the audacious debuts of Tarantino and Rodriguez, and yet it is the freshly resourceful, deeply personal film that either of them have yet to make even now. It is a comedy about a self-conscious screenwriter named Adolfo, played by the ubiquitous Steve Buscemi, who has written an unfilmable 500-page screenplay and is looking for a producer. Wherever Alexandre Rockwell's career has gone since this much-overlooked flick, there is a great deal of clarity here. As an aspiring filmmaker at the time I see it, I can understand a lot more about Adolfo's vision as an aspiring filmmaker than what is actually said. Such a convoluted vision Buscemi has that is relieved and clarified by his experiences.

Such experiences include the appearance of Seymour Cassel's Joe, a fast-talking shyster who promises to produce the film but has his own unique ideas regarding film financing. There are so many realistic scenes between an obsessive, complicated artisan and a simple street guy, intensified by the specific external realities of theirs which clash. There is so much more about Adolfo's emotional state during his exploits with Joe than what he narrates, "Instead of making my movie, I was living in his." Whatever Joe and his intentions may or may not turn out to be, Adolfo now, rather than cloistering in his sketchy NYC apartment synthesizing the styles and thematic elements of his cinema idols, he actually has something personal and profound to say and to write.

A low-budget indie feature debut, originally shot in color but released in black and white, it does not play out like an art film. The story is simple, earnest, real. Even when Buscemi narrates and explains in dialogue his ambitious cinematic visions, it is his character who handles this, not the outer film. There are no airs to the dialogue, and many of the peripheral characters are for comic effect. Will Patton seals the deal on Buscemi's interpretation of Joe and his occupation. Stanley Tucci is hilarious as his neighbor Beals' emotional Hispanic husband. And it's refreshingly funny to see Sam Rockwell as a retarded kid with a helmet.

Reservoir Dogs was an auspicious debut to match, and though El Mariachi hardly compares to the Tarantino film's writing or star power Rodriguez opened almost as many eyes for its generation to the potential of completely autonomous ultra-shoestring-budget indie film-making as Cassavetes did 35 years earlier. So, I am not partially or rationally surprised that Rockwell's In the Soup was lost under the sudden and violent windstorm phenomenon of those other two simultaneous selections, nor do I think that it's nearly as easy for personal filmmakers to remain consistent with critics and audiences as action filmmakers with more common filmgoers' appeal. Nonetheless, this down-to-earth little gem hopefully holds its own over time.

First and foremost, this movie is absolutely hilarious. If you haven't seen it, rent it and enjoy. I envy you for the experience you will have.

This movie has a very young Steve Buscemi, and he's at his best. Seymore Casselle's performance is both as funny and as powerful as his role was in Minnie and Moskowitz, and that's as big of a compliment as I could give to anyone.

The direction here is impeccable. Music is both romantic, sad and moving without it ever being heavy-handed. The pacing is neither rushed nor is it ever slow. The story feels as unpredictable as life only much more interesting. Rockwell clearly takes tips from Fellini and makes it into an American original.

If you like Bottle Rockets, Strangers in Paradise, Clerks, Bill Hicks, Daniel Johnston, James Brown…basically if you have any soul in your body, you will adore this movie.