A Slipping-Down Life

Love can fuel peculiar inspiration. When a small-town Plain Jane named Evie Decker (Lili Taylor) becomes infatuated with hunky local blues-rock musician Drumstrings Casey (Guy Pearce) and his cryptic on-stage monologues, she carves his last name into her forehead with a shard of glass. What sounds like a potential journey into psychosis actually plays out as a quirky love story between two gentle souls: a shy young woman living with her widowed father and a troubled artist who shares her quiet desperation to escape their rural purgatory. With Evie serving as Drum’s muse, the duo matures together as they seek to break free of their dead-end lives, but they also wonder whether they are actually meant for something greater. Writer/director Toni Kalem’s adaptation of Anne Tyler’s novel eschews flamboyant romantic gestures, instead seeking profundity in awkward glances, small yet meaningful actions, and singular lines of dialogue that deliver deep impact.
USA, 1999, 111 min., color, rated R subtitles • Director/writer: Toni Kalem, based on the novel by Anne Tyler • Cinematographer: Michael F. Barrow • Cast: Lili Taylor, Guy Pearce, John Hawkes, Sue Rue, Irma P. Hall, Tom Bower, Shawnee Smith & Alicia McCutcheon - Bryan Reesman

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