A Slipping-Down Life (1999)

A young woman becomes obsessed with a small-time North Carolina rock singer.

Director:

Toni Kalem

Writers:

Michael Charles Hill (story), Toni Kalem,

Stars:

Lili Taylor, Guy Pearce, Irma P. Hall

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lili Taylor	...	Evie Decker
Guy Pearce	...	Drumstrings Casey
Irma P. Hall	...	Clotelia
John Hawkes	...	David Elliot
Veronica Cartwright	...	Mrs. Casey
Marshall Bell	...	Mr. Casey
Shawnee Smith	...	Faye-Jean Lindsay
Sara Rue	...	Violet
Bruno Kirby	...	Kiddie Arcades Manager
Tom Bower	...	Mr. Decker
Jo Ann Farabee	...	Woman at Salon
Harv Morgan	...	Dick St. Clair
Jason Russell Waller	...	Audience Member #1
Lew Temple	...	Audience Member #2
Jason Kavalewitz	...	Young Sexband

Storyline

Evie Decker, a shy young woman, falls in love with pop star Drumstrings Casey after hearing his voice on the radio. Summoning the courage to pursue the singer, Evie starts to break out of her shell...

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Plot Keywords:

singer | north carolina | radio | amusement park | volkswagen | 

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Taglines:

You think you're invisible. But I see you.

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language including sexual references

Details

Official Sites:

Lions Gate Films [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 January 1999 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$9,066 (USA) (14 May 2004)

Gross:

$95,436 (USA) (11 June 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DVC Entertainment, PFG Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Austin mayor, Kirk Watson makes a cameo in the drugstore scene.

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Goofs

Although it is implied that the movie takes place in North Carolina but in the beginning, when Evie and her father are at the breakfast table, the jam and milk are of a brand that is only sold in HEB stores, which are only found in Texas. (Where the film was actually shot)

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Quotes

Faye-Jean Lindsay: Hey Evie! I could have sworn I saw you and that porker friend of yours at the concert the other night.
Evie Decker: My friend Violet and I did go.
Faye-Jean Lindsay: No shit!

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Soundtracks

"Dirty Windows"
Written by Ron Sexsmith

User Reviews

The sheer truth of a young couple trying to escape their tyrannical roots to be reborn.

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.