A Slipping Down Life
A Slipping Down Life ★★ 1999 (R)
The often-quirky Taylor gives a quirky performance as meek and depressed Evie, who has a crummy amusement park job in a small town and nothing to look forward to. That is, until she becomes obsessed with a struggling local musician called Drumstrings Casey (laconically played by Pearce). She carves his (last) name on her forehead, which at least gets Drumstrings attention and leads to some much-needed publicity. Evie begins to blossom under his interest and he appreciates her devotion, but is that all there is? You'll also be saying that about this indie (Fans of Anne Tyler, on whose novel, her first, the film is based, may not be happy that the teenagers are now twenty-somethings). After showing at the Sundance Film Festival, litigation kept the film out of circulation for five years. 111m/C VHS, DVD . US Lili Taylor, Guy Pearce, John Hawkes, Sara Rue, Irma P. Hall, Tom Bower, Shawnee Smith, Veronica Cartwright, Marshall Bell, Bruno Kirby; D: Toni Kalem; W: Toni Kalem; C: Michael Barrow; M: Peter Himmelman.