Recovered Classic: Trees Lounge


When actors step behind the camera the results are invariably mixed, but such is Steve Buscemi’s prowess as a natural performer that you somehow felt strangely reassured when he made his first stab at writing, directing—and starring in—his own independent feature.

Loosely autobiographical and inspired in part by the films of John Cassavetes, Trees Lounge might well split audiences right down the middle due to its low-key tone and unhurried pacing, but in many ways it’s just like Buscemi himself—a bit scrawny and unappealing on the surface but incredibly likable and enjoyable once you give it time to work its magic.

Centred on unemployed car mechanic Tommy (Buscemi)—who loses his job after “borrowing” money from the garage owned by his friend Rob (Anthony La Paglia)—the film is a homage to loserdom, introducing us to the drunks who, like Tommy, treat the local Trees Lounge bar as their home.

So through the main character we quickly meet his pregnant ex-girlfriend Theresa (Elizabeth Bracco) who has now taken up with La Paglia; his drinking buddy brother Raymond (played by the director’s real-life brother Michael Buscemi); and Tommy’s 17-year-old niece Debbie (Chloe Sevigny), with whom he ends up spending an ill-advised night of lust.

Written by Buscemi over a period of seven months, the movie is essentially about Tommy’s attempts to put his life back together after losing Bracco to La Paglia, but he doesn’t really get anywhere, the film’s meandering structure adopting a kind of Altman-esque approach to merely show how his life intersects with a random collection of locals. This is also a man whose only real concern is where his next drink is coming from. He does find temporary salvation driving his deceased uncle’s ice cream truck, but life in Tommy’s dead-end suburban hometown rarely offers anything more enticing than the thought of getting back to the bar.

Slow to the point of almost standing still—yet somehow never dull—Trees Lounge (which was filmed in Buscemi’s real-life hometown of Valley Stream, Long Island) might not have the spark to ignite everyone’s interest, but it’s curiously engaging and much of that is down to the captivating performances, as well as Buscemi’s undoubted skill as a director. It’s also worth pointing out that because it’s a mainly cheerless film, it could so easily have been instantly forgettable. But it actually turns out to be a disarmingly perceptive character study, a probing, slice-of-life examination of deadbeat barflies who peer aimlessly at their day-to-day existences through the bottom of the nearest glass.

The mood is sometimes lifted by the occasional sight gag and unexpected moments such as a cameo by Samuel L. Jackson, but it’s Buscemi’s on-screen presence and the performances he draws out of the rich supporting cast that hold most of the attention in a movie which tells its story through its characters and their lives rather than relying heavily on any particular plot.

Accept it for what it is—and what the director intended—and Trees Lounge is a rewarding experience. Watch it in the kind of drunken stupor most of its characters find themselves in and it’ll probably be the best thing you’ve seen in ages.

David Lichtneker

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