TREES LOUNGE (73)

Directed by: Steve Buscemi

Starring: Steve Buscemi, Chloe Sevigny, Mike Boone Jr., Daniel Baldwin

The Pitch: An unemployed young man hangs out a little too often at the Trees Lounge bar, finding a little too much solace in alcohol.

Theo Sez: Whether or not intentionally (one suspects Buscemi was originally aiming for something a bit more "raw"), a near-perfect blend of mainstream and indie : it's a bit predictable, and there are moments when it seems excessively contrived (stuff like Baldwin turning up with wild tales of the previous night just as Boone is assuring his wife that nothing happened, or the recurring gag about the little boy who keeps missing the ice-cream truck), but the neat, structured writing also keeps self-indulgence at bay - a real danger in this kind of actors' exercise - just as the presence of real-looking alkies (presumably playing slightly more articulate versions of themselves) validates the too-cool-to-be-true Tom Waits ambience of the bar-room scenes. It's actually quite a miraculous balancing act, naturalism and contrivance bolstering each other, managing to find a lifelike down-to-earth quality without losing the heady feeling of a shaped, specific story being told - and Buscemi's performance is the year's best portrait of a fatally weak man, likeable and good-natured but probably fated to end up among the rheumy-eyed old drunks propping up the bar. The open ending isn't a surprise, but it is genuinely open, because the film - for all its gritty-indie affirmations of pessimism - is still mainstream enough to leave the door open in our minds for an implausibly happy outcome, the suggestion that our hero (having realised that his life is going nowhere) will now pull himself together and become a solid hard-working citizen : it's not particularly likely, but at least you don't feel naive for thinking that it's possible. Some will say this dilutes the concept of Cassavetes-style "honesty" ; then again, maybe it transcends it.