A Slipping-Down Life

A Slipping down life was shelved for many years, and the lack of real hipness or accessibility is probably to blame for this. Helmed by two indie stars Lili Taylor and Guy Pearce, this film was held back simply because neither person could conceivably carry this film.

But unlike some crappy movies that see a rebirth it didn't deserve, ASL was quietly pushed into the underground cinema and then quickly reborn on cable. And while this doesn't sound good on paper, ASL actually surprises you a little with some of the little nuances within each character's performance (with the exception of Sara Rue and Shawnee Smith---ugh!!). Lili Taylor exhibits yet another introverted woman who is somewhat shunned not just due to her nature but also her looks. Much like previous films Dog Fight and even The Haunting (where her character was visibly overwhelmed by Catherine Zeta-Jone), Taylor makes you believe she is her character rather than an actor. And some people say method acting is dead.

Guy Pearce is especially interesting in this film. I especially liked the transgression of him embodying all the things his father hates and then turning into his father near the end. It was a strange transformation but an effective one. And its even more impressive how he can cover up his deep Australian with an effective North Carlina twang.

While the plot was pretty random at best, at least these two performances added some life to a film that would have been altogether listless.

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 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

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" was originally released at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999, but because of "creative differences" between the producers and the director/actors, it never was released...until now.

Lion's Gate Films now owns the distribution rights. The film premieres in NY and LA on May 14th (elsewhere across the United States in late May/early June).

I saw the movie last month at the Phoenix Film Festival. Toni Kalem, the director, was present, and she conducted a Q&A session with the audience after the showing. One of the common topics during this discussion was related to the differences between the book and the movie.

While I haven't read it, it appeared that the die-hard fans of the book were totally drawn in and satisfied with the movie (and Anne Tyler, herself, gave her "official approval" to Toni Kalem's screen play adaption).

Lili Taylor is absolutely brilliant in this movie, and Guy Pearce offers a performance you might not expect.

Finally, before heading out to see this, make a point to grab a box of Kleenex - I found myself in tears more than a few times.