Trees Lounge - The bar where everything turns

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Movie
German title Trees Lounge - The bar where everything turns
Original title Trees Lounge
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1996
length 95 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Steve Buscemi
script Steve Buscemi
production Brad Wyman ,
Chris Hanley
music Evan Lurie
camera Lisa Rinzler
cut Kate Williams
occupation

Trees Lounge - The bar, in which everything turns (original title: Trees Lounge ) is an American independent film from 1996 by Steve Buscemi , who acts here for the first time as a screenwriter and director, but also holds the leading role. It describes the life of some guests in a New York suburb bar . In it, Buscemi processes his experiences around the former real Bar Trees Lounge in Valley Stream ( Hempstead (Town, New York) ) and its guests there. The plot of the, at times humorous, film is based on the consideration of the self-destructive behavior of the characters.

action

The film follows Tommy Basileo , an alcoholic in his thirties and a regular at a bar called Trees Lounge . His life was in disarray after his eight-year relationship with Theresa broke up and he also lost his job as an auto mechanic for embezzlement. Sometimes he hangs around in front of the gas station of his former employer Rob, where his brother Raymond (also in real life Buscemi's brother, the actor Michael Buscemi) works.

His uncle Al dies in his ice cream van and during the funeral service that follows, Tommy, his brother and cousins ​​sniff some cocaine . Then Tommy takes everyone to the Trees Lounge and they continue drinking there. There is a bar fight with one of the regulars. Then Tommy and the regular customer Mike involved in the fight drive through the night after they have bought some beer in a late night sale and Tommy tells Mike about his embezzlement and termination. Also whether Rob, as her new partner, treats the pregnant Theresa well. Especially since it is not clear to some participants, but also to the viewer, whether the child is Tommy's or Rob's.

Two movers (one of them played by Samuel L. Jackson) from the moving company opposite the bar enter the Trees Lounge to have a drink and are surprised to see their boss Mike there. Tommy realizes that his drinking buddy Mike owns a fleet of moving trucks and immediately applies for a job as a packer or mechanic. Mike disappoints him because he doesn't need any more employees.

Tommy takes over Uncle Al's ice cream truck and is upset because the children (initially) don't want to buy anything from him. Theresa's sister, 17-year-old Debbie, begins to drive around the neighborhood. She is in a flirtatious mood and tells Tommy about a dream she recently had about him.

A running gag of the film is a little boy who tries to buy ice cream several times, but fails every time. Either because the ice cream man dies in front of his eyes (Uncle Al) or his successor Tommy overlooks him or has another private goal.

Mike is abandoned by his wife and seven year old daughter because he spends too much time drinking. When they agree to meet, she tells him to his horror that she and their daughter would like to move to another city or far into the country.

Debbie and her friend Kelly are sitting in the Trees Lounge. Debbie cannot verify her age of 21, which is necessary for a bar stay (in the USA) and Kelly claims that she can vouch for Debbie's correct age. So they both fly out of the bar and Mike takes them to his apartment together with Tommy to continue drinking and dancing. When Mike's phone rings, he harshly throws his visitors out to take his wife's long-awaited phone call undisturbed. He begs his wife to come back and he promises to change.

Tommy and Debbie move on to Tommy's apartment, which is above the bar, and discuss why Tommy has no real friends. They get closer and end up spending the whole night together. When Tommy dropped her at home that morning, he ran into Debbie's father Jerry's arms. After learning that his daughter had not stayed at Kelly's as planned, he drove around desperately to look for her. He now asks Tommy if he saw her. Tommy plays the innocent and denies having seen her again after her evening stay in the Trees Lounge. However, some time later, Jerry finds out the truth and chases Tommy across a baseball field , knocks him down with a baseball bat and smashes the ice cream truck.

Theresa has just given birth to her child when she visits Tommy in the clinic with a damaged forehead. Apologizing for the way he treated her when they were together, he says he's finished and hopes that their relationship will come back and that he would take care of the baby, even if it wasn't his. Theresa gently informs him that she is not interested in it and is now with Rob, who would be coming to the clinic any moment.

Tommy returns to the Trees Lounge and learns that one of the older regulars (Bill), a mostly staring alcoholic, whose sad remnants of his life only played out on his regular bar stool and in his small apartment, has collapsed and is now in the hospital. The barmaid and the guests debate who is visiting him there and see how he is doing. One of them hesitantly agrees, but only, as he says, after he has finished drinking.

The film ends with the realization that nobody would get up and drive to the hospital and everyone will just keep drinking. Tommy stares at his glass in a long last shot and realizes - sitting on Bill's stool - who he is now and what has become of him.

background

The budget for the film was $ 1.3 million.

Filming locations were Glendale , Queens ; Brooklyn ; and Valley Stream ( Hempstead (Town, New York) ).

The Trees Lounge bar in Valley Stream actually existed before the film was made.

Steve Buscemi used to work in a gas station himself and was an ice cream van seller.

The film debut as a screenwriter, director and the acting production impressed the inventor of the series The Sopranos , David Chase, so much that he engaged Buscemi to direct an episode of his series (episode 37: Pine Barrens ), and later, from the 5th Season , he cast the role of Tony Blundetto with Buscemi, which he held in 16 episodes from 2002 to 2006.

reception

criticism

The film received 80% approval on Rotten Tomatoes .

"Unpretentiously and without the bizarre humor of his other roles, Buscemi draws the honest portrait of the disoriented Tommy, a permanent guest in the" Trees Lounge "bar, who was not born a loser, but who simply has more problems than he can handle. Buscemi plays him as an eternal loser, but as a director, author and actor he is the definitive winner here. "

- Cinema .de

“Steve Buscemi, the actor almost no contemporary independent film can do without, makes his directorial debut with“ Trees Lounge ”: Designed as a careful study of the character of a charming drinker and good-for-nothing, the film casts a bright but warm light on life in the suburbs -Milieu of the New York working class. "

Awards

Trees Lounge was nominated for Best Debut Film and Best Picture at the Independent Spirit Awards 1997 (along with producers Brad Wyman and Chris Hanley), but didn't win.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Release certificate for Trees Lounge - the bar where everything turns . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2008 (PDF; test number: 116 090 DVD).
  2. a b c Mark Scheerer: Raise a drink to Trees Lounge. In: CNN Interactive. CNN , October 25, 1996, accessed October 29, 2015 .
  3. ^ Adrian Wootton: Steve Buscemi (II). The Guardian , July 17, 2001, accessed October 29, 2015 .
  4. Rating at Rotten Tomatoes
  5. Review Cinema.de , accessed on October 29, 2015
  6. ^ Review Kino.de , accessed on October 29, 2015