Alrighty folks... A SLIPPING DOWN LIFE does have distribution... Or at least I swear up and down I remember getting told that, but for the life of me I can't seem to find out who has the film. I think it might have been Trimark... but that could be wrong. Anyway, the point is... IT's A GREAT MOVIE, that really does need your attention! I saw the film back at SXSW, Click here to read my review! LiLi Taylor and Guy Pearce are just fantastic in this film, and... it's nice to see ol Marty McFly paying attention. So read on... and keep your ears open wide for information about a release. Here's that skateboarding delinqueint...
Marty McFly here. I just got back from seeing a little indie film many of the readers may not have heard about. It was called A Slipping Down Life. It is based on the novel by Anne Tyler, who also wrote The Accidental Tourist.
The two leads alone got me interested right from the start. Lili Taylor and Guy Pearce. Now, Lili Taylor is not really an actress that strikes me as beautiful right when I see her, so knowing this movie was a romance kind of turned me off. However, this movie uses that trait as a characteristic of her role. She is not a woman that every man would find gorgeous, but there Guy Pearce's character does. Lili Taylor is a great actress, and though I have never loved any of the films I have seen her in (such as Ransom, Short Cuts, I Shot Andy Warhol and a few others) she always gives good performances. Pearce made a big impression in L.A. Confidential, a brilliant performance. That, along with that trash Ravenous, were the only films I'd seen with him. He's an actor with a bright future.
Anyways, the story is that Evie (Taylor) is a lonely virgin living in North Carolina with her father. Her mother died at birth and she works at an amusement park selling hot dogs in a rabbit costume. One night on the radio, she hears an aspiring rock singer named Drumstick Casey (Pearce) being interviewed on a local station. She is taken by what he says, so she goes to see him at local clubs. For her, it is love at first sight, but she can't get him to notice her. Seemingly out of desperation (minor spoiler ahead), she takes a piece of glass and carves the word Casey on her head. Her stunt gets some publicity for Drumstick. He meets her finally while she is in the hospital getting stitched up. At first it seems he thinks of her as just some groupie but soon, as she goes to most of his shows to help get him more publicity, he starts to fall in love with her too. Their relationship becomes more complicated throughout the movie and I won't go into it.
Taylor gives an incredible performance. She makes you know what this rocker, who has plenty of beautiful women waiting to please him, sees in her and why he falls for her. Pearce is just right for the rock singer. He has the look and he transforms from stuck-up and distant to guy you care about. The relationship between these two is well written and acted but in most other aspects, the movie doesn't quite work. Taylor's relationship with her father is supposed to be warm and sentimental but it just seemed sappy and stupid. Most supporting roles and subplots seem unnessacary, such as the grandmother from Soul Food playing Taylor's annoying housekeeper.
The film was at Sundance but I believe it does not have a distributor yet. Taylor and Pearce carry the picture and it is probably worth a look for them. I'll be interested to see Taylor in the The Haunting in a few weeks and watch her in her first film acting with special effects. I'm also looking forward to Pearce's next film Rules Of Engagement with Sam Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones.
This is Marty McFly, getting in the Delorean and heading off to see Wild Wild West. I am hoping it won't suck. See you in the future!
