Rating: 
Summary: Buscemi Masterpiece
Review: Trees Lounge will be a film that you will relate to if you are twentysomething and aimless in society today.The film depicts Buscemi as "Tommy" an unemployed guy who has to resort to driving his late relative's ice cream truck to survive. The lounge depicts a lifestyle which many will immediately identify with, in today's high tech society there are many who dwell on the fringes, trying to scrape by. Tommy and his cohorts wallow at the Trees Louge while life passes them by... The film has a superior cast including the most adorable Daniel Baldwin, and is poignant moving and sad. A must see.
Rating:
Summary: A magnificent story about a man's growth in consciousness
Review: With an unlikely background of a dingy neighborhood bar, Steve Buscemi has produced an enlightening story about the spiritual growth of a man named Tommy (Steve Buscemi) who is burdened with what author John Bradshaw has termed "toxic shame". The audience quickly learns that Tommy is an alcoholic. As the film progresses, the audience also learns that he will do or say anything to avoid taking personal responsibility for himself and his life. The movie takes the audience through Tommy's healing crisis. When the movie begins, we find out that Tommy has recently lost his job as an automobile mechanic and his girlfriend (who is now pregnant with what may or may not be Tommy's baby). Instead of looking inside himself for the source of his problems, Tommy has fingered Rob, his former boss and his girlfriend's new lover, as the villain. In an early symbolic scene, Rob twists back Tommy's index finger in a spot outside of Rob's auto shop where Tommy has been spending his afternoons stewing in hatred and resentment. According to Tommy, everything would be different if he had an external reason to change. In the movie, Tommy's idea of a compelling external reason is symbolized as a wife and a child. Through the character of Mike (Mark Boone, Jr.), the movie demonstrates that the external reason alone doesn't bring true healing to a shame-based alcoholic. Like Tommy, Mike spends most of his time drinking in Trees Lounge. Unlike Tommy, Mike has a wife and a child. According to Tommy, Mike is a "wacko" because he still drinks and does drugs despite the fact that he has a compelling external reason (wife and child) to be more responsible. In a symbolic scene, Mike proclaims to Tommy and two young girls that he is "serious". Mike's actions, however, demonstrate that he still has an immature consciousness. After Mike's wife returns home for an apparent reconciliation, he has an opportunity to tell the truth and take responsibility for having a party with young girls in the house when his wife and daughter were away. Instead, he lies which leads to further marital problems when the lie is exposed. For most of the movie, it appears that Tommy would also not reach a higher level of consciousness. Rather, it appears that Tommy is destined to become an old drunk like Bill (Bronson Dudley) whose purpose in the movie is to act as a symbolic mirror of Tommy's probable future if he doesn't wake up. Tommy's crisis hits rock bottom when it is discovered that he had an inappropriate relationship with a 17 year old girl (Chloe Sevigny). After the girl's father (Daniel Baldwin) finds out, he hits Tommy on the head with a baseball bat. Symbolically, this blow represents the hit on the head that finally gets through to Tommy and wakes him up. In the following scene, Tommy is visiting his former girlfriend in the hospital after she has just given birth. In an initial appology, Tommy still holds onto his blaming, victim consciousness. At the end of the conversation, however, Tommy makes an unconditional apology in which he takes full responsibility for himself and his actions. In the brilliant final scene, Tommy walks into Trees Lounge and symbolically sits in Bill's chair. Shortly thereafter, Tommy learns that Bill is in the hospital in near-death condition. Symbolically, the audience is supposed to infer that Bill lost his wind at the moment of Tommy's unconditional apology and that Bill's survival (i.e., Tommy's future as an old drunk) depends on whether Tommy fully embraces his new change in consciousness in which he takes full responsibility for his life. With terrific camera work and choice of music, the movie shows that Tommy's external world is changing as a result of his internal change of consciousness. First, Tommy winces after taking a swill of his bottle of beer. Next, Tommy declines to down the shot of Wild Turkey directly in front of him on the bar. With the close-up shots of Tommy in thought at the end, Buscemi is shifting the focus to Tommy's inner consciousness. If one only looks at Tommy's external circumstances, his crisis appears to have been a disaster. If one looks at Tommy's significant change of consciousness, however, he is a triumphant hero. As a result of a devastating crisis, Tommy woke up and expanded his consciousness. As anyone who has tried to change knows, all real change begins on the inside. "Trees Lounge" is a wonderful, thought-provoking film. The acting is superb, the soundtrack is terrific, and the spiritual message is subtly delivered. Highly recommended for everyone, especially spiritual seekers.
Rating:
Summary: Lawrence of Arabia Full Metal Jacket Trees Lounge
Review: You see, I believe in the noble, aristocratic art of doing absolutely nothing. And I hope someday I'll be in a position to do even less-Jack Dangers
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