Customer Reviews

A Slipping Down Life

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw this the same day I saw the big budget spectacular "The Aviator" about Howard Hughes. After seeing both it was clear to me which of the two films was better and had more lasting value -- this little slice of life about two unusual people cast together in small town America.

Guy Pearce plays a Southern rock musician and Lili Taylor plays a fan of his and, later, the object of his affection in this little movie about real people, real emotions and real events. Unlike the big budget blockbuster "The Aviator", this film was not full of stars gussied up to mimic famous people and their exploits.

This movie is more about real life as you may have lived and witnessed it. It has ver realistic performances and situations, unrelenting pathos, and an optimistic ending, something not guaranteed in movies this close to reality.

Pearce and Taylor give magnificent three dimensional performances in this film about coming out, friendship, idolatry, love, marriage and death. It is well worth your time and money and will give you longlasting pleasure and satisfaction.

Adapted from a novel by Ann Tyler, this is a small independent film that has finally been released after being an limbo since 1998. Toni Kalem, who sometimes appears as one of Carmela's friends in The Sopranos, is the writer/director of this film and she's taken the material and suited it well to the screen.

Starring Lili Taylor as a mousy young woman in a rather bleak and depressed small town in the south, we can all identify with her attraction to a local rock musician played by Guy Pearce. She becomes obsessed with him even though he doesn't even notice her. Suddenly, in an act that shocked me with its suddenness, she goes into a ladies room and, with a piece of broken glass, she carves his name into her forehead.

This, of course, gets his attention, and they even have their picture put in the newspaper together. It's not surprising that a romance then blossoms and they marry. During the rest of the film, we see the scar on her forehead in various stages of healing. Lili Taylor is an incredibly gifted actress and she plays the role both tough and sweet with an inner core that is clear, pure and honest, especially as her husband's career is failing and she's the one who has to hold the relationship together.

Most of the film is very subtle, the textures are soft, the feeling is quiet and we get a glimpse of the working class lives of the characters that is all about survival. And yet there is love in this film and the eccentric romance is unique and interesting. I would have enjoyed it a bit more if it were just a little shorter and moved a little faster. However, I'm aware that this is my particular taste and the rather slow pacing of this offbeat romance was well suited to the material. Recommended.

Lili Taylor and Guy Pearce are totally convincing as two eccentric characters struggling with loneliness and longing for a different life than their sleepy Southern town has offered them so far.

A few interesting plot twists and amazing music make up for the areas where the film falters. The supporting characters are a bit cliched and the framework wasn't always fully laid down for the viewer to understand the character's motivations.

However, I do feel this film is underappreciated. Pearce and Taylor's realization of these characters surpasses the minor flaws. Guy Pearce manages a Jim Morrison-esque sexiness and impressive vocals in the musical sequences. I also highly recommend the Soundtrack album for this film.

I haven't read the book... My thoughts are inspired purely by the movie.

......

"A Slipping Down Life" is a beautiful small town fantasy nicely portrayed by all the actors. The movie is about Evie Decker's obsession for a musician named Drumstrings Casey, and all the things she'll do in the name of love. In the name of hope.

Even though the movie is small it has such intensity! Evie's conviction is heart breaking and magical at the same time.

Looking back on it, the movie reminded me of "The Whole Wide World". They both share that innocense that when done right can be delightful and endlessly charming.

This is a charming movie.

If you haven't seen it you can't expect a big love story or a masterpiece. You should expect a small movie full of soul, then you're prepared to be blown away by the somewhat unusual little moments that will feel more like a dream than anything else.

A SLIPPING-DOWN LIFE languished for several years without theatrical distribution, then quickly vanished from theatres, only to promptly surface on DVD. Despite spotty reviews during its theatrical release, fans of novelist Anne Tyler or thoughtful independent film should grab this one, quickly. Director/screenwriter Toni Kalem's background as an actress clearly shows in the performances she gets from a fine cast. Lili Taylor, while probably too old for the girl she's playing, is as intelligent and touching as always, while Guy Pearce gives one of his best performances as the rocker who's the object of her obsession. Nice turns from Irma P. Hall and (making the best of small roles) Veronica Cartwright, Keith McDermott, Clea DuVall and Bruno Kirby. Literate, affectionate and affecting.

SLIPPING DOWN LIFE is obviously a work of love - a low budget film that won recognition in the Sundance Festival in 1999 but wasn't released until 2004. Adapted from Anne Tyler's novel by the same name, director Toni Kalem has carefully recreated the shabby little North Carolina town of the early 1960s and directs her actors in a way that convinces us of the rural mentality that drove so many young people to follow the piper of Rock and Roll, merely to escape the doldrums of their corralled future.

Evie Decker (Lili Taylor in yet another finely tuned portrayal of a young women on the verge of self extinction) is a plain, bored, young lass living with her father (Tom Bowers), her mother having died at childbirth. She works in a kiddie amusement park inside the costume of a silly rabbit. Her view of the world and her role in it is bleak, to say the least. Her only friend is Violet (a fine cameo by Sara Rue) who is an overweight hairdresser and the two of them attend a local concert of rock and roll music, discovering the strangely hypnotic, idiosyncratic singer Drumstrings Casey (Guy Pearce, always extending his repertoire of character types from 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' to 'LA Confidential' to 'Memento', etc).

Drum's sidekick David (John Hawkins) will go to any extreme to publicize his partner's singing career, and when Evie falls under Drum's spell, she 'competes' with all the tawdry tramps vying for Drum's sexual favors by carving "Casey" on her forehead. This act not only serves as an awakening of Evie's spirit, but also gives David a thought for publicity: Evie with her carved forehead will be present at all of Drum's concerts as a trademark of fan devotion!

The now awakened Evie eventually draws Drum out of his cocoon and they eventually marry, only to encounter the realities of commitment. The scenario ends is a most tender fashion that remains best withheld from the viewer.

This film, while very fine in its capturing a time and era and atmosphere so prevalent in the turbulent 60s in America, is in need of editing. The tale simply needs better pacing, using less footage to describe some events and more emphasis on the other aspects of each character's life. But radiant performances by Lili Taylor and Guy Pearce (and with the fine support of Irma P. Hall, Sara Rue, and Tom Bower, etc) keep this 'first film' in the foreground of interest in Tyler's story and Kalem's future ventures.

This is one of those movies that you can watch again and again and never get tired of. Guy Pearce is dreamy, and Lili Taylor is amazing as always. A feel-good work of art.

As usual, the uniquely beautiful Lili Taylor is cast as a plain, inhibited woman and once again, she takes a role that must have seemed fairly bland on paper and fills it with what starts as a bud and becomes a bloom. She portrays a child-woman without much hope and a delicate psyche.
Guy Pearce once again shows his versitility by portraying a talented singer whose career is stagnant due mostly to his Dylanesque monologues. He's the epiomy of the misunderstood artist, who has so much to say but no one cares to hear it.
Lili Taylor is the perfect mix of subtle and shocking, while on her road to an improbable life with Pearce. I found the scenes between her and her father very touching, as well. While waiting for the tragic outcome that seems inevitable, the movie unfolds so much like life. Slowly; two steps forward, one step back.
I was left unexplainably moved by the movie. Somewhere in the middle, it grabs your emotions without you even being aware of it. You really CARE what becomes of these two different yet equally lost people, and the end, while realistic, doesn't dissapoint.

I saw this film on IFC several years ago and had been searching for it again for some time. The two leads give excellent performances. It is a bit odd, but I personally loved every minute of it!

Every now and then, a movie comes along that pulls you in and never lets go -- THIS is that kind of movie. I can't believe I'd never heard of it until I caught it quite by accident a few years ago on cable, and I immediately wanted to watch it again. I HAD to have, not only the DVD, but also the SOUNDTRACK.

The story is simple enough (small-town, shy, sheltered girl falls for "bad boy," hunky rock star), but the main characters are so convincing that you revel along with them in their victories and mourn with them in their defeats. This movie is just dripping with talent, so why didn't it get more media attention?

As for Guy Pearce's singing...all I can say is, "Wow!" Not that Val Kilmer didn't do a good job, but I often wonder how, "The Doors," would have been with Guy Pearce playing the part of Jim Morrison....