John Cassavetes
 

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Lately I've gotten interested in exploring the work of John Cassavetes. Earlier this year I watched A Woman Under the Influence, and I can't name many films that seem to understand human relationships better than that one. I sensed some similarities to Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage, but I think Cassavetes' film might be slightly better.

So over the past week or so, I saw Cassavetes' first two features, Shadows and Faces. Both were heavily experimental and improvisational films that I certainly admired, but I don't think either achieved the towering heights of A Woman Under the Influence.

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The forerunner of the independent film movement (and released roughly the same time as Godard's Breathless), Shadows doesn't deal with love and relationships in the same devastating manner as Cassavetes' other films, but it's definitely the main focal point of the movie. Above all, I love the setting of Shadows- if I were at the point in my life that these characters are, that's the kind of city I'd want to live in. Plus, the fact that this whole film was completely improvised is pretty astonishing.



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Possibly even more radical than Shadows, Faces deals with the breakdown of the marriage of an upper-class middle age couple. I didn't find it to be as captivating as the similar A Woman Under the Influence, or as astute regarding domestic relationships, but it was still interesting simply because of the unique way it was filmed. Some scenes stood out as well, such as one where the couple laughs over friends of theirs who are having an affair despite the fact that their relationship is no better.



Edit: The more I think about these two movies, the more I like them. Bumping them up a half popcorn box each.

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If anyone else has thoughts on Cassavetes I'd love to hear them! I look forward to watching his other films.

Re: John Cassavetes
 

Here's everything I wrote on Cassavates, not much. I didn't really like the two I saw (A Woman Under The Influence, and Faces). I didn't like the "unique" way that Faces was filmed, gave me a headache. And I felt WUtI tried to hard to feel genuine.

Re: John Cassavetes
 

It wasn't trying hard to be genuine - it's a "lived-in" film. After you get used to its pace, the film shows a slow-burn descent into madness. I guess what you meant was that Gene Rowlands "tried" too hard to portray her character. In fact, she has surpassed all expectations, her quiet yet lethal performance felt more surreal and haunting than Polanski's Repulsion or The Tenant, both of which felt too cinematic fo my liking.

Re: John Cassavetes
 

I can imagine that some of those scenes must have been pretty painful to film. Personally I think Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence is one of the best female performances I've seen (maybe THE best).

Re: John Cassavetes
 

Opening Night (1977)

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This one really knocked my socks off. In fact, I think I enjoyed Opening Night even more than A Woman Under the Influence. As a tale of aging, lost years, the collision of art and reality, and the socially destructive nature of alcoholism, this is an enormously ambitious film that hits all the right notes.

Gena Rowlands is un-freaking-believable as Myrtle, a Broadway actress who descends into madness after a teenage fan is killed in a car accident. I suppose the fact that this fan was so young only helped to heighten Myrtle's fears of aging; she often states that she sees the girl as a youthful version of herself, and surely witnessing her death made her fear for her own.

As Myrtle begins to question her mortality, you get a sense of what a sad film Opening Night is. She never married, never had kids, and ultimately devoted her life to the artificiality of the stage. I'm not old, and for Myrtle the fear of death is much more pressing than for me, but it's still painful and heartbreaking to realize that she'll never leave any significant mark on the world. For me personally, that's always been a big fear.

Rowlands is truly fearless in this performance, perhaps even more so than other ones she has done for Cassavetes. She's an alcoholic on the verge of breakdown, and she brings the character to life in a way I can't really put into words.

Cassavetes is brilliant in the way he balances the theater with ordinary life. As the film progresses, there are some scenes in which you can't tell the two apart, and by the end of the movie life and fiction have crashed together. When Rowlands improvises her lines onstage, it's easy to read Opening Night as a metaphor for Cassavetes' unique style of filmmaking: everything is improvised and in-the-moment and the script holds little significance. In these scenes, much of the audience enjoys Myrtle's performance; so do I.



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Re: John Cassavetes
 

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

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Since I'm on a major Cassavetes high, I decided to check this one out today. Cassavetes regular Ben Gazzara plays a strip club owner forced to kill a man by the mob, to whom he owes a significant sum of money. For a crime thriller, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is pretty slow paced. Yet unlike his contemporary Robert Altman, Cassavetes seems less concerned with messing with the conventions of the genre than simply capturing the sleaze of NYC in gritty, grimy realism. He certainly succeeds; I felt the need to take a shower after finishing this movie.

Cassavetes' virtually unparalleled knack for authenticity is just one of the film's strengths. Gazarra is excellent in the lead role and ultimately serves as his director's alter ego; here is a man who just wants to put on a good show for everyone, and the mob (studio executives) keep getting in the way. If only the pacing was a bit better, this might have been a great movie.

Re: John Cassavetes
 

I've seen some of his films: Faces isn't a good one for me, Shadows is just great :D

Re: John Cassavetes
 

Whoa, I've been slacking off with this thread lately :eek: Will get posting about some other Cassavetes films shortly.

Re: John Cassavetes
 

I am yet to watch a John Cassavetes film, but this thread certainly makes me interesting, and I think he sounds like someone whose work I would enjoy. I think I recall in an interview Michael Imperioli who plays Chris Moltisanti in The Sopranos chose The Killing of a Chinese Bookie as his favourite mob film and was the only one to differentiate from the usual choices of The Godfather and Goodfellas, so I have been meaning to check out that film for a while :)

It's totally worth a watch (especially since a lot of people seem to like it more than I do), but I'd recommend starting with A Woman Under the Influence. It's typically cited as his masterpiece and I think it comes pretty damn close to the title.

As of tonight, I have seen all of Cassavetes' nine major features except for his last one, Love Streams. It's on YouTube in multiple parts, good thing too seeing as there's no DVD release. I've been saving it for last and I've got pretty high expectations.

Re: John Cassavetes
 

Husbands (1970)

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Like Faces, Husbands is often difficult to sit through and suffocatingly uncomfortable. But as in the previous film, this is deliberately done in an effort to match the subject matter. Cassavetes' films always seem to be about the barriers people face in connecting with one another; whereas Faces dealt with boredom and infidelity, this one deals with the male macho complex. These are undeniably obnoxious and insufferable characters; while that occasionally makes them difficult to identify with, Cassavetes does the best he can to dig under their skin and find out what makes them tick. As always, the acting is spot on.

Re: John Cassavetes
 

Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)

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I liked this one much more than I expected; Cassavetes' most underrated movie, IMO. It's much warmer and more accessible than some of his other films. Maybe that explains why it isn't name-dropped as often as most of his other movies, yet I am surprised it doesn't get more recognition as Cassavetes' most direct look at a theme that runs through his entire body of work: love. This is one of the most honest and realistic romances I've come across. Cassel and Rowlands create believable characters that one could actually imagine getting to know. I probably sound like a broken record mentioning that the performances are fantastic, but that's Cassavetes for you.

The two that come to mind that I liked with Cassavetes in was Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen.

His son Nick was fun to watch in the '86 Sci-fi flick called The Wraith starring Charlie Sheen and Randy Quaid.

He also directed The Notebook. Shame shame shame ;)

He was pretty great in Rosemary's Baby, as I recall. It's been awhile since I've seen that movie but it's one of my favorite horror films. For some reason, I haven't posted about this one yet even though I saw it awhile ago...

Gloria (1980)

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To me, this one seems to lack the Cassavetes stamp. It's basically a straightforward crime thriller; not a bad film by any means, but probably my least favorite of his movies simply because it lacks the complexities and thematic ambitions of his other films. Rowlands is appropriately tough as nails in the lead performance, but aside from her rather cliched relationship with the super annoying Puerto Rican kid that she's stuck with and her interactions with a mobster that she used to date, there's very little of the explorations of human relationships that Cassavetes is known for. Entertaining enough but nothing special.



And, just so I can have all my thoughts on Cassavetes' films in one thread, here was what I initially wrote about A Woman Under the Influence:

Re: John Cassavetes
 

I personally think Husbands (along with Faces) is Cassavetes' best film.

Glad you admire A Woman Under the Influence, though. :)

Re: John Cassavetes
 

Well then, I need to warn whoever cares that i think Husbands is the bottom of the barrel. :)

Re: John Cassavetes
 

And he doesn't like A Woman Under The Influence. :shifty:

Re: John Cassavetes
 

It's my right. I'm sure I've seen it more times than anybody here except Holden.

What do you think of Love Streams?

Re: John Cassavetes
 

Love Streams (1984)

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Cassavetes does it again; I'll place this one in the same league as Opening Night and A Woman Under the Influence as truly top-tier work from the father of the American indie. I'm very glad I saved it for last, as it's a truly fitting conclusion to Cassavetes' career.

Cassavetes' films always feel like home movies, so it's interesting that Love Streams was actually filmed in his house. He and Gena Rowlands star as a polar opposite brother and sister; she loves too much, he too little. I've already mentioned here that love is the great theme of Cassavetes' career, and with these two characters at his disposal, he is able to deal with the topic in a way that is more raw and chaotic than even most of his other movies. For his last film, he has made an immensely powerful affirmation of the great truth in his work: that love is both a blessing and a curse, and that perhaps it can bring some semblance of balance to even the most messed-up of lives.