A Slipping-Down Life

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.

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.

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.

Sort of warmed-over grits -- containing every trite character and expression that inhabits "Southern" storytelling down through O'Connor, Welty, Flagg, etc. None of the parts is more than one stereotype after another.

Therefore, the viewer is compelled to observe by contrast any small feature that redeems the larger picture. In this instance there is one that stands out: the versatility of actor Guy Pearce playing a weak, indecisive, and mushy musician whose impact lies solely in how he how he takes on an impossible role and somehow brings it to life.

How this Australian actor can master such a wide variety of theatrical work is something of a mystery to me. Lacking the "star" quality of such countrymen as Crowe and Gibson, he nevertheless steals every scene of every picture I have seen in which he appears, from "Priscilla" to "L.A. Confidential" to "Memento." Very impressive indeed. Worth watching this otherwise drab film.

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