Diractors is an ongoing series in which Hassle writer Jack Draper examines films, new and old, whose directors are better known for their work in front of the camera.

We’re so back in our Diractors series, discussing one of my favorite tiers of an actor directing their movies: the character actor-directed movie. Someone who everyone loves and could create a unique career with a movie they make that eventually becomes an underrated gem (see also What Happened Was…, which I love and will get to soon). Character actors having less of a reputation or awareness from the public means they can do just about anything; the connections made as a character actor give a near guarantee they’ll be a great actors’ director. In the case of Steve Buscemi, he achieved all this and more with his at-bat in Trees Lounge, which I was really taken with. He ended up making a movie that doesn’t feel stale, just as familiar as a dive bar.  

But Trees Lounge really succeeds as a life that could’ve been. Buscemi must have thought to himself when first getting the itch to direct: how would my life be different if I hadn’t quit drinking? Would I have had any control over my life, or does everything just pass me by? Tommy, played by Buscemi himself, is a mechanic out of work with still hurting from a breakup. Elizabeth Bracco’s Theresa broke up with him after eight years with a baby on the way that may be his or could be his ex-boss’s, who fired him for drinking. He only really talks to bartenders (Joe Lisi and Carol Kane), his brother Raymond (played by his actual brother, Michael), and his drinking buddy Mike (Mark Boone Junior). He isn’t someone who has experienced agency or desires, just passes the time from the number of drinks he remembers having, even with Harry daring Tommy to just have one drink for money. After his Uncle Al (Seymour Cassel) passes away, he learns from George (Michael Imperioli) that his Ice Cream truck is vacant, and a new opportunity emerges. Along his route, he hangs out with his Theresa’s niece, Debbie (Chloe Sevigny), and they develop a relationship with each other which cuts through the charm of Buscemi and reminds us that Tommy has nothing.  

While it may sound like there’s a lot going on in Tommy’s life, its not too plotty of a movie, just lots of interesting characters that populate this corner of Long Island. These people have sad interactions with Tommy when they hear an excuse from him or an explanation that’s half assed. “We were just fooling around like a couple of teenagers,” or “I should have a kid and it’ll be all better,” or “I’m going to have just one tonight,” which goes to highlight how full of detail Tommy is with this inability to escape any mistake. These mistakes then lead to his nefarious relationship with Debbie, in which we never see anything that happens between himself and a minor. What may or may not have happened, what Tommy admits to, results in her dad, Jerry (Daniel Baldwin), busting up Tommy’s ice truck and Tommy himself. That janky ice cream truck that wasn’t even decided by his uncle to belong to him and now it’s damaged, all he has now is to go back to his ex and admit he’d be better off with a kid in his life. At this point it’s clear: he is going to float through life with nothing but what others give him. 

David Chase cites Trees Lounge and the vibe that Buscemi achieves to be a major influence on The Sopranos, which you can so easily see from the hangout vibe, unlikeable characters and offbeat humor of it all. For real Sopranos heads, its nice to know that Buscemi was behind the camera for debatably the greatest episode in the entire series in “Pine Barrens.” Chase isn’t one to mince words; he went as far to say the episode “was so well-directed and clear, and not baroque.” Furthermore, Tony Soprano and Buscemi’s Tommy aren’t as different as you’d think, as adults who are at a point in life when its too late to realize that redemption is unsuitable. Self-destructive to when you lose sympathy, yet we can’t look away due to the strength of the performances. But even before he had inspired one of the greatest shows of all time, Buscemi was trying to replicate the experience he had in theater, but Buscemi suggests “It’s just control over what I do, maybe writing a part that I usually don’t get to play in films.” When Buscemi was asked this by Charlie Rose (yikes!), he noted that lots of actors were directing in the mid ’90s (mentioning Robert Redford and Tom Hanks), and Buscemi was in the mix of actors trying out directing yet with much less of a reputation to uphold.  

It is this everyman, ego-less quality Buscemi exudes that people are drawn to, which I’m sure is pulled from his time as a NYC firefighter. Since he was recognized as a unique, versatile actor by the Coen Brothers, Jarmusch, Tarantino, and so many others, he was already at an advantage to make anything interesting to him as he makes other people’s movies better. Everyone loves Buscemi and he is never bad, which maybe that makes thinking about his personal life informing his directing boring. Trees Lounge is such a lowkey success that intrigued about Animal Factory and Interview.  

Trees Lounge
1996
dir. Steve Buscemi
95 min. 

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