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Slipping Down Life
Evie (Lili Taylor) is a quiet woman, stuck working as a mascot at a low-rent amusement park. She becomes obsessed with a local rock musician, Drumstrings Casey (Guy Pearce), and reveals her love for him in a gruesome manner. The two strike up an unlikely alliance, and feelings get involved.
The best-executed part of this film is how director/adaptor Toni Kalem sets up the oppressive, timeless atmosphere. We never get too specific with the film's location – it's southern, rural and poor – but that's about it. It is all we need, though, as the characters' action do as much to tell us about their location and situations as the set designer or location scout.
While both Taylor and Pearce do everything they can with their respective characters, Evie and Drumstrings are both flat as a board. We never see what has made Evie so introverted, other than the possibility that it runs in the family (she lives with her father, who is just as much a shut-in as she is). Drumsticks, meanwhile, is never given anything resembling charisma, he treats everybody poorly, and capitalizes on a clearly-sick woman. And we're supposed to root for this guy?
But the biggest problem with the film is that … nothing happens. That's not to say that anyone would expect a long action sequence, but the story's most exciting, most interesting moment is its first plot point, which comes about a half-hour into the film. After that, there's nothing new or interesting about the film. From a story standpoint, every event becomes less and less life changing, lessening the stakes until the end, where the film has managed to lull the viewer into no longer caring about its outcome.
The DVD
Video:
A Slipping Down Life is presented in anamorphic widescreen. Every color seems very muted, though that could be an artistic choice. There are no artifacts or video noise that I noticed.
Sound:
Two audio tracks are provided: A Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. The 5.1 track is decent, but it rarely utilizes the back speakers for anything involving space. Even the concert footage seems a little flat.
Extras:
Lion's Gate put out the bare minimum effort when it comes to Slipping Down Life. There are four trailers: Slipping Down Life, Danny Deckchair, Dogville and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. That's it. Not even subtitles.
Final Thoughts:
A Slipping Down Life is a quiet film, a film more worried about the atmosphere it creates than the events on the screen. But like its protagonist, it is content to slip by, without making any sort of mark or imprint on the mind of the viewer.
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