Steve Buscemi’s first attempt at directing a film is a quiet character study that very effectively creates a realist environment and explores the lives of the people that inhabit it. In this case the world is a dive bar in a nondescript working class town. And the lives that it explores are the nondescript, yet kind of depressing, ones of down on their luck, working class people. While I enjoyed the performances in the film, and I found there to be several moments of levity and entertainment throughout, I never managed to become too engaged in what I was watching. The characters here are kind of boring, mostly regular people. The screenwriting effectively recreates what life in this environment is like, but it never really takes a stance on how it feels about everything. Trees Lounge is time spent in an ugly place with desperate people. It gives us a window into a world, but it’s into a world that doesn’t happen to be very cinematic or interesting. Nobody here learns a lesson or goes on a journey. The inhabitants of Trees Lounge are static and ordinary. This is a well made enough film to keep you from regretting giving it a watch, but afterwords you’re left wondering what the point really was.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Short Round: Trees Lounge (1996) ***/*****
Steve Buscemi’s first attempt at directing a film is a quiet character study that very effectively creates a realist environment and explores the lives of the people that inhabit it. In this case the world is a dive bar in a nondescript working class town. And the lives that it explores are the nondescript, yet kind of depressing, ones of down on their luck, working class people. While I enjoyed the performances in the film, and I found there to be several moments of levity and entertainment throughout, I never managed to become too engaged in what I was watching. The characters here are kind of boring, mostly regular people. The screenwriting effectively recreates what life in this environment is like, but it never really takes a stance on how it feels about everything. Trees Lounge is time spent in an ugly place with desperate people. It gives us a window into a world, but it’s into a world that doesn’t happen to be very cinematic or interesting. Nobody here learns a lesson or goes on a journey. The inhabitants of Trees Lounge are static and ordinary. This is a well made enough film to keep you from regretting giving it a watch, but afterwords you’re left wondering what the point really was.
