A Slipping-Down Life

I am a fan of Flannery O'Connor's Southern gothic, the kind of short stories that define `grotesque,' where humor is slow, characters are off center, defects abound, and life is a series of stops along the born-again trail. First-time writer/director Toni Kalem (`Sopranos') channels O'Connor when a lady sitting in an early scene of `A Slipping Down Life' has a large wound on her knee, not featured but just there as the camera pans the group.

Besides minor grotesqueries, the major one consists of the name Evie Decker (Lili Taylor, `Casa De Los Babys') inversely carves on her forehead with broken glass: `Drumstrings. ' `Drum' Casey (Guy Pearce, `Memento') is a soulful country singer catching wallflower Evie's fancy, implausibly marrying her, and along with her going through a few hells on the road to rebirth. The thirteen original songs Pearce sings are melancholic country, all the more impressive because of his singing.

The road is littered with Southern stereotypes (O'Connor never allowed those types in her very original stories) like Clotelia (Irma P. Hall, `Lady Killers'), whose black housekeeper is a true throwback to unoriginal Hollywood typing of the early 20th century. Add Drum's rube family members and slutty Faye-Jean Lindsay (Shawnee Smith) as an oversexed, overacting girl friend and you have an inexperienced director ignoring the nuances of Anne Tyler's novel, from which Kalem adapted.

But `A Slipping Down Life' belongs to Lili Taylor, who gives us a sympathetic young virgin, lovingly attached to her introverted widower father and doggedly determined to make something of Drum's talent and her life. Her underplayed demeanor and plain looks offset the grotesque mark on her forehead; her strength of character ("I've never backed down on anything in my life") serves further to distance her from the usual Southern hicks so popular in immature cinema.

In his `Autobiography,' W.B. Yeats described the link between self and happiness and renewal so much a part of this film's power: `I think that all happiness depends on the energy to assume the mask of some other self; that all joyous or creative life is a rebirth as something not oneself, something which has no memory and is created in a moment and perpetually renewed.'

Although the story brings no surprises and repeats some Southern chestnuts, the film ultimately succeeds because of the principals' considerable acting talent and the sheer truth of a young couple trying to escape their tyrannical roots to be reborn.

A Slipping Down Life is a charming love story that keeps on giving until the very end. I especially enjoyed the performances of the film's two leads, Guy Pearce, and Lily Taylor. If you get a chance to catch this fantastic piece, jump at it. Fantastic soundtrack as well

Toni Kalem is a new voice that shows a lot of promise by undertaking to make this 1970 Anne Tyler's novel into a quirky film. "A Slipping down Life" was shelved after its 1999 debut at Sundance. The film was released last year and since it disappeared before we could see it, it was a surprise when it was shown on a cable channel recently. Ms. Kalem, who adapted the story got the blessing from Ms. Tyler; the finished product follows the original text in a great adaptation.

Evie, the lonely young woman living with her widower father, gets her entertainment through the radio. It's the early 1960s in a small town in North Carolina. The late night program Evie tunes to brings her perhaps the only satisfaction she gets all day long. Working in a children's amusement park, Evie doesn't seem to fit. Evie's only friend is the beautician Violet, who being overweight, is another misfit living in a small community.

The Decker household is dominated by Clotelia, the black maid who is the only one with any spunk. Mr. Decker is an aloof man who is more interested in listening to his short wave radio. His only complaint is about too much Spanish broadcasting.

The young woman discovers the songs of Drumstring Casey late at night. He becomes an obsession. Evie drags Violet to go watch this not too popular singer at a local hangout. Evie becomes completely taken by the music and the young man singing the songs she loves. As a token of her infatuation Evie cuts her forehead with the name YESAC, or CASEY spelled backward when she looks at herself in the mirror. Drum, as he wants to be called, resists Evie's attention at first, but eventually he comes to love her in his own fashion.

The role of Evie is played by Lili Taylor. This young actress is what make us care for Evie because we root for her happiness with Casey. She has a dreary existence living at home and basically staying by herself. Lili Taylor, one of the most versatile actresses working in films these days, makes a great impression on the viewer with her rendition of Evie.

Equally effective is Guy Pearce, an Australian actor, who makes Drumstring Casey come alive. It would appear to be the wrong casting, but in reality, Mr. Pearce looks a natural and the right choice for the role. His take on the singer offers another dimension in Mr. Pearce's range, an actor that is at home in drama and comedy.

Irma P. Hall, an excellent actress of stage and screen, appears as Clotelia. Tom Bower is seen as Mr. Decker. Sara Rue is fine as Violet, and Shawnee Smith is also good as Faye Jean.

A great debut for a new talent. Toni Kalem is to be congratulated for tackling the job of bringing this mostly unknown work of Anne Tyler to the screen.

This film is an absolute gem. It was filmed in and around Austin, and I didn't even know it until I saw the landscape. Not to mention the cameo of our former mayor Kirk Watson!

What can be said about Lili Taylor that hasn't been better said by superior raters? She's simply amazing as Evie. I've read other reviews that claim she was too old for the part and I completely disagree. She brings a clear and clean strength to this role that was absolutely required for the part to shine as it did. She just simply glowed through the movie like a firefly. Guy Pearce made this viewer fall in love with him the way Drumstrings made Evie fall in love.

Evie's relationship with her father was warm and touching. Her soul is so strong yet so fragile because of it's capacity to love that at one point I caught myself saying to the screen, "Don't break her heart. Please don't break her heart". This movie is a special treasure.

"A Slipping Down Life" is better at showing the power of radio and music than explaining the characters inspired by it.

Lili Taylor's "Evie Decker" is living in a house filled with the sounds of radio and not much else in her life, as we see in somewhat mocking scenes that duplicate from many movies about small town Southern life from "Last Picture Show" to "Fried Green Tomatoes," etc. Her dad spends his time exploring short wave frequencies ("There's too much damn Spanish in the world!") and she's hooked on the romantic dedications and atmosphere created by WLUV.

So it's His Voice that gets to her first, as she hears an interview with a local singer/songwriter trying to establish himself as "Drumstrings Casey" and she's inspired to actually go out to see him at a local club.

Guy Pearce perfectly captures the type; while he's singing --quite well-- songs actually written by Canadian Ron Sexsmith, he floored me that his body language of being both sexy and laid-back virtually duplicated rootsy singer/songwriter Chris Whitley from the first time I saw him perform back in '91 for a similarly small audience. So I can certainly relate to "Evie"'s emotionally charged response to him -- but her actions are just plain odd, as she changes from passive guilelessness to exhibitionist stalker.

Debut writer/director Toni Kalem (a Jersey girl who is also "Angie Bonpensiero" on "The Sopranos" and can't resist sticking in Bruce Springsteen references here and there) confusingly shifts gears that I don't know if come from the original novel by Anne Tyler as I haven't read it yet. Both characters start getting more sympathetic and complex as they get more co-dependent and much more than just musician and fan, and more intriguing than Keith Carradine with his various groupies in "Nashville."

Though some pithy truths do come out, their artistic and emotional viewpoints are inconsistent as they try to find themselves, together and apart, with only hints of psychological explanations, such as "Casey"'s relationship with his mother, a former singer herself, and his hearing local bluesmen. But in maturing you do have to take a few steps back in order to go forward. The conclusion satisfyingly comes together around music and the radio, but is awkward plot-wise.

John Hawkes of "Deadwood" is also charming as the band drummer and promotion-seeking manager.

Nice range of singer/songwriter music on the soundtrack, but it doesn't reflect the Southern milieu that is so carefully visually established.