Wednesday 8 October 2008

Trees Lounge [1996]


Steve Buscemi is without doubt one of the most brilliant and versatile character actors of his generation, and has enacted some truly memorable roles (one needn’t look further than Reservoir Dogs and Fargo for proof). But who would have thought that he had a talented director in him as well. His impressive debut feature Trees Lounge presents the endearing and bitter-funny tale of a guy, played immaculately by Buscemi himself, who spends all his day doing, well, nothing. He is the quintessential slacker, a serial barfly, recently fired from his job, has lost his girlfriend to his former best friend, and more often than not ends up doing silly foibles that puts him into more trouble than he is in a position to bargain for. All he loves doing is spending most of his time at the local watering hole Trees Lounge or hang out with his equally loser buddy. This heartfelt, lazy tragi-comic tale of a guy who has unfortunately failed to conform to the demanding norms of the society or be just another regular Joe, is clearly indicative of the reasons that have made Buscemi an icon in the indie circle and a legend among the discerning movie-goers.









Director: Steve Buscemi
Genre: Comedy Drama/Americana/Slice of Life/Tragi-Comedy
Language: English
Country: US

5 comments:

Fletch said...

It's been forever and a half since I saw this, but I think I was mostly bored by it. I wanted to like it more than I actually did...

Shubhajit said...

C'mon, it wasn't boring; could have easily been so, but the inimitable Buscemi and the wry humour of the script ensured otherwise. I found the movie quite likable for the simple reason that the movie never really tries too hard to endear itself to us.

Fletch said...

I could be wrong. Like I said, it's been awhile (probably 10 years) - that's just my impression/recollection when I hear/read about it.

Shubhajit said...
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Shubhajit said...
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