Trees Lounge (1996)

Tommy (Steve Buscemi) is an unemployed mechanic who spends most of his time in a bar (Trees Lounge) in a small blue collar town. He seems to always be thinking, "If only X then I could stop drinking".Roger Ebert wrote, "Steve Buscemi, who plays Tommy and also wrote and directed the film, knows about alcoholism from the inside out and backward, and his movie is the most accurate portrait of the daily saloon drinker I have ever seen." Now I don't know if this is the best film about a barfly ever made. I find that rather hard to believe. But I do know that Buscemi is a great actor, a champion of the independent film, and as "Trees Lounge" shows, he is an accomplished writer and director. I am glad to see he is getting the respect he deserves.

It has some elements of big chill, except interesting characters, plots, and background.You can tell it was designed to be an intelligent adult movie, but without all the boring elements that were common of the era in film. I actually watched it to see Buscemi, but I like a lot of the actors and elements.It kind of reminds me of a plot and philosophical mix of Bottle Rocket and Box Of Moonlight which were both good obscure films. It's something I'd buy for a DVD collection and watch every once and a while when bored.

As a week-in-the-life-of a 31-year-old man named Tommy (Steve Buscemi), an out-of-work auto mechanic, this film plods along drearily and monotonously. Tommy's life is a mess. He hangs out at a local Long Island bar, called the Trees Lounge, where he hobnobs with other neighborhood deadbeats.None of the characters here have anything going for them. They drink alcohol, smoke, and talk. They're frustrated, unhappy, angry, and in a lot of emotional pain. Some viewers would call them losers. They don't know how to adapt to life's changes. They can't see beyond the dreary little world they've boxed themselves into. Their perspective is too confining.The best scenes take place inside the bar, where depressing jukebox songs play in the background. Outside the bar, scenes are largely uninteresting and perfunctory. But they do add depth to the characters, if the viewer has any interest in them to begin with. Some scenes play like a soap opera of life's defeated. Pace is slow. Dialogue is voluminous.Superficially, Buscemi, bug-eyed and anemic looking, is something of a trial to watch. Yet, he's no less attractive than other actors here. And that's a welcome change from blow-dried, photogenic fashion models, right out of central casting, who populate so many mainstream films.Low-budget, and very low-concept, "Trees Lounge" is just the ticket for the viewer who is depressed, bored, or feeling blue. One can empathize with Tommy, or his cohorts, knowing that the story is semi-autobiographical of Buscemi, before he got into acting.

I've been a fan of the diverse and clearly talented actor Steve Buscemi for quite a while, ever since I first saw Con Air back in '99. Naturally, when I heard he'd directed and written a movie by himself, starring him, I wanted to see it. I found this to be more of a drama than a comedy, but it didn't really bother me. It didn't have much of a plot, but that didn't bother me either. The film is about Tommy(Buscemi) who's an alcoholic. He just lost his job, and his boss took over his pregnant girlfriend. So, what should he do? Going to the local bar is probably low on the list of good ideas, but that's what he does. The plot is almost non-existent... then again, there's plenty of back-story to make up for it, and the movie has a pretty good pace, even though it moves kind of slow. The movie is primarily a study of the environment of alcoholics, and as such, it's great. Just great. There's tons of little details, thrown in here and there that don't really add to the plot, but rather to said study. The acting is mostly great. Buscemi is great, as always, and some of the supporting actors are equally good; Baldwin and Sevigny, in particular. The characters are well-written and credible. The humor is a rarity in the film, but it is mainly a drama. Also, what little there is, is great. The environment presented is entirely realistic and accurate. There isn't really anything about it that seemed to just be put in there, everything is perfectly believable. The dialog is well-written. There wasn't a lot I didn't like about this film, apart from the few tell-tale signs of Buscemi's inexperience in the director chair(long takes for no apparent reason, one or two acting performances that are either under- or overdoing it, the occasional odd camera angle), but I can see why many probably won't like it. It's not a fast film, it's not that fun, and the ending doesn't really resolve anything. Everyone is still caught in their respective situations, none of which are satisfactory. No major revelation is made by the end of the film. In the end, Buscemi just makes his point... that the life of an alcoholic is an empty one. Nothing else. Don't rent this to laugh or learn a useful lesson. Rent this to get insight into the day-to-day life of alcoholics and their environment. I recommend this to fans of Steve Buscemi and people who enjoy films that just indulge in study of a certain group of people. Not for those with low attention spans. 8/10