A Slipping-Down Life is a 1999 romantic drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Toni Kalem

Toni Kalem

Toni Kalem is an American actress, screenwriter and director. Kalem is best known for her portrayal of Angie Bonpensiero on the HBO series, The Sopranos....

. Based on a novel by Anne Tyler

Anne Tyler

Anne Tyler is an American novelist.Tyler, the eldest of four children, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father was a chemist and her mother a social worker. Her early childhood was spent in a succession of Quaker communities in the mountains of North Carolina and in Raleigh...

, it stars Lili Taylor

Lili Taylor

Lili Anne Taylor is an American actress notable for her appearances in such award-winning indie films as Mystic Pizza, Say Anything..., Short Cuts and I Shot Andy Warhol, and the acclaimed TV show Six Feet Under....

 and Guy Pearce

Guy Pearce

Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...

.

Plot

Shy loner Evie (Taylor) hears musician Drumstrings Casey (Pearce) on the radio one night and becomes infatuated with him. She pursues him, carving his name (sadly, backwards) in her forehead with broken glass, and eventually they meet and then marry. They both still struggle to make something of their lives.

Cast

• Lili Taylor
  Lili Taylor
  Lili Anne Taylor is an American actress notable for her appearances in such award-winning indie films as Mystic Pizza, Say Anything..., Short Cuts and I Shot Andy Warhol, and the acclaimed TV show Six Feet Under....
  
   as Evie Decker
• Guy Pearce
  Guy Pearce
  Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
  
   as Drumstrings Casey
• Irma P. Hall
  Irma P. Hall
  Irma P. Hall is an African American actress who has appeared in numerous films and television shows since the 1970s. She is best known for playing matriarchal figures the films A Family Thing, Soul Food and The Ladykillers....
  
   as Clotelia
• John Hawkes
  John Hawkes (actor)
  John Hawkes is an American film and television actor. He is known for his portrayal of the merchant Sol Star on the HBO series Deadwood, Dustin Powers on Eastbound & Down, and his Academy Award-nominated performance as the menacing backwoods meth addict Teardrop in Winter's Bone.-Life and...
  
   as David Elliot
• Veronica Cartwright
  Veronica Cartwright
  Veronica A. Cartwright is an English-born American actress who has worked mainly in American film and television. She is best known for her role of Lambert in Alien, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress....
  
   as Mrs. Casey
• Marshall Bell
  Marshall Bell
  Archibald Marshall Bell is an American actor. He has appeared in many character roles in movies and television. His best-known movies are probably A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge , Stand by Me , Twins and Total Recall .-Early life:He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he lived until...
  
   as Mr. Casey
• Johnny Goudie
  Johnny Goudie
  John Charles "Johnny" Goudie is a Cuban-American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumental musician, record producer, actor, and podcaster based in Austin, Texas...
  
   as Jesse
• Shawnee Smith
  Shawnee Smith
  Shawnee Smith is an American film and television actress and singer. Smith is best known for her roles as Amanda Young in the Saw films and Linda in the CBS sitcom Becker....
  
   as Faye-Jean Lindsay
• Sara Rue
  Sara Rue
  Sara Rue is an American television actress. She is best known for the roles she played as Carmen Ferrara on the comedy-drama Popular and Claude Casey on the sitcom Less Than Perfect. She is also known as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig...
  
   as Violet
• Bruno Kirby
  Bruno Kirby
  Bruno Kirby was an American film and television actor. He was perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films City Slickers, When Harry Met Sally..., Good Morning, Vietnam, The Godfather Part II and Donnie Brasco.-Early life:Kirby was born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu, Jr. in New York City,...
  
   as Kiddie Arcades Manager
• Tom Bower
  Tom Bower (actor)
  Tom Bower is an American actor who has appeared in a wide variety of television and film roles from 1973 to present. He played physician-husband Curt on The Waltons. He has held a number of prominent supporting roles including Dan Miller in the 2000 film Pollock and the gas station attendant in...
  
   as Mr. Decker
• Jo Ann Farabee as Woman at Salon
• Harv Morgan as Dick St. Clair
• Jason Russell Waller as Audience Member #1
• Lew Temple
  Lew Temple
  Lew Temple is an American film actor, perhaps best known for his roles as Locus Fender in the action film, Domino starring Keira Knightley, and Cal, the diner manager in the comedy-drama Waitress starring Keri Russell....
  
   as Audience Member #2
• Jason Kavalewitz as Young Sexband

Distribution

A Slipping-Down Life premiere

Premiere

A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...

d on January 22, 1999 at the Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

, distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment

Lions Gate Entertainment

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...

. It was given limited theatrical release in the United States on May 14, 2004.

Awards

The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1999 Sundance Festival. In 2004 it won the Special Jury Prize at the Indianapolis International Film Festival

Indianapolis International Film Festival

-Mission & General Information:Founded in 2004, the Indianapolis International Film Festival seeks to create a shared experience by championing films that entertain, challenge and expand perspectives in Indianapolis and beyond...

 and Lili Taylor won the Achievement Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival

Newport Beach Film Festival

The Newport Beach Film Festival is a film festival in the United States held in Newport Beach, California, that showcases more than 350 films to more than 30,000 attendees annually....

. In that year it was also nominated for a Golden Trailer Award

Golden Trailer Awards

The Golden Trailer Awards is an annual awards show that honors achievements in motion picture marketing, including film trailers, posters and television advertisements.- Overview :...

.