Trees Lounge Review

Tommy lives in the Long Island township of Valley Stream; he`s 31, an alcoholic and a loser. He`s been working at a garage as a mechanic, but he lost that job because he `borrowed` some money. So he just bums around, spending most of his time drinking at a bar, the Trees Lounge, chewing the cud with the regulars. His girlfriend, Theresa, is pregnant, but she`s left Tommy for Rob, his ex-boss, and Tommy definitely shouldn`t be offering any encouragement to provocative 17-year-old Debbie... Trees Lounge is the very impressive first feature of one of the finest American actors around, Steve Buscemi, a memorable contributor to such films as Fargo and Reservior Dogs. It`s actually a `might-have-been` film; Buscemi grew up in Valley Stream, and he reckons that, if things had turned out differently, he might have been just like Tommy. Obviously influenced by the work of John Cassavetes, Buscemi has assembled an interesting cast - Anthony LaPaglia is Tommy`s rival for Theresa, Elizabeth Bracco. Seymour Cassel is Tommy`s uncle, who indirectly provides Tommy with work of a kind; Chloe Sevigny is excellent as the provocative Debbie, and there`s also Carol Kane, Kevin Corrigan, Debi Mazar, Mimi Rogers and the ubiquitous Samuel L. Jackson. Trees Lounge is about a no-hoper, but it`s a film filled with hope, a film which establishes Buscemi as a most interesting director.