A Slipping Down Life
A young woman becomes obsessed with a small-time North Carolina rock singer.
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- Cast:
- Lili Taylor , Guy Pearce , Sara Rue , Irma P. Hall , John Hawkes , Shawnee Smith , Bruno Kirby
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Reviews
Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
I just caught this film on IFC late one night and was drawn to it by two actors I've always admired in other films: Lili Taylor and Guy Pearce.Although Lili delivered her usual unique, offbeat take on a complicated character, I was especially impressed by Guy Pearce, an Aussie who nailed the Carolina dialect and surprised me by his musical acuity. I found him as magnetic as Evie/Lili did, though you wouldn't find me carving his name on my head for love or money! But I get why she did it. She's living a stultifying quiet life, wondering if she could just disappear off the face of the earth and probably no one but her devoted Dad would notice. She looks in the mirror and sees a plain, blank face and slumps through her plain, blank life. Several people have commented that his almost grunge musical stylings are way ahead of their 60's time setting, although I found no difficulties accepting that premise. Evie sees him as ahead of his time and bursting with potential, while the rest of the town (with the exception of the hoochie women attracted to his fine physique) just view him as a weirdo. And I think that's the bond that eventually makes him fall for wise and weird little Evie.I missed the first few opening credits so I didn't notice that this was an Anne Tyler concoction. But halfway through the movie I found myself thinking that the internal lives of these characters were very reminiscent of Tyler: Think about Geena Davis' quirky and devoted dog trainer pursuing the emotionally stunted William Hurt in "The Accidental Tourist," and you can see the parallels.No, this wasn't a "great" film in the Hollywood mode, but so what? It moved me. I was drawn in and wondered how their lives played out at the end. They probably should have headed for Seattle, where young Drum could have found himself giving Kurt Cobain a run for his money later on. Pearce himself should think about diversifying into a musical career: what a voice and presence! Not a flick for everyone, but it will hit home to those who are able to suspend their disbelief and "be there" for it.
I just saw this on Sundance channel.Although there were some super korny things about it... I loved it.This was also my intro to Guy Pearce. Whoa man! That is why I google'd it why I am here actually. That man is hot and has more stage presence then I've felt in a long time.I also LOVE Lilly.Okay, my two cents.p.s So now this freakin' site is telling me I need to have more lines for this review to post. WTF??Anyway... let's see if this works...
Guy Pearce could have a career as a singer based upon what he does in this movie - the vocals he performs as "Drumstrings Casey" are phenomenal - and the always-brilliant Lili Taylor turns in another beautifully realized, multi-layered portrayal as Evie Decker, the film's center. What I liked most was how she wasn't a groupie or a pushover but rather a 3-dimensional person with a strong mind, and I liked how Pearce's character slowly came to realize that he needed her. Ideally, this should have been an overwhelmingly compelling film but it suffers from a weird kind of vagueness, which could have worked for the material but instead it pulls us away from it, so the ending isn't as satisfying as it could have been. Still worth catching on cable nonetheless, for the two brilliant central performances.
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