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Trees Lounge (1996)

Trees Lounge (1996)

7.1

Steve Buscemi made his debut in this realistic portrait of a man bound by alcohol

Movie

United States of America
English, Italian
Comedy, Drama
1996

TLDR

Tommy... Yikes.

What it's about

After losing his girlfriend and his job all in one swoop, Tommy spends most of his time at the town dive bar Trees Lounge to nurse his failures with alcohol.

The take

There's no shortage of media depicting alcoholism, but many of them come across as preachy, sanctimonious, and coming from someone that hasn't gone through it. Steve Buscemi’s directorial debut is another character study of an alcoholic pushed to drink because of losing both his job and his girlfriend, but the way Buscemi writes, directs, and acts as this Long Island town drunkard has an unassuming realism that doesn’t paint Tommy’s life as the worst thing ever, but rather as a steady toleration of having life left unfixed, of continuing to indulge in self-destructive behavior, because it’s not bad enough to actually do something about it. Trees Lounge might not be the most exciting debut, but it’s one that’s honest.

What stands out

That ending shot, where Tommy takes Bill’s seat… Wow.

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