Trees Lounge

Trees Lounge is actor Steve Buscemi's directorial debut. What characterises Buscemi as an actor is that he is quite improbably ugly. For the most part he has indeed specialised in uncharming and repellent roles, but in the lead as the unemployed layabout Tommy Basilio you nevertheless cannot help feeling sympathy for the man.

The film does not use grand gestures to depict life in the provincial backwater of Valley Stream on Long Island around the bar Trees Lounge, where Tommy fritters away most of his time. When the story begins, he has just been fired from the garage where he earned his drinking money as a useless mechanic and 'borrowed' money from the till. What is more, the place is owned by Rob, the current husband of Tommy's ex-girlfriend.

One man's death is another man's bread: Tommy's luck turns for a short while when Uncle Al, the local ice-cream man, passes away and Tommy is handed the ice-cream van. At the same time he gets better acquainted with the young but experienced Debbie, which Debbie's father tries to make Tommy regret when he discovers the budding relationship. Tommy goes under once again. Right to the last, in the well-turned ending, you sit hoping that Tommy will pull himself together – but he doesn't. Or does he?

Trees Lounge can rightly be criticised for its laid-back pace and its paper-thin plot, but it can also be defended, for what characterises the style finds a parallel in the film's world. There, Tommy's everyday life unfolds almost without incident. The film reaches for the stars in its apt characterisation and its subdued, precise and darkly humorous dialogue.