So this is my old review of Shadows;
Shadows has a raw feeling to it. Whilst it plays like a student film, for all the young actors involved and the disjointedness; mainly due to improvisation, that isn't exactly how I mean "raw". In fact, in its look and style, it reminded most of Kubrick's Killer's Kiss, which is a beautifully shot piece, for something that looks like everyone met on a street corner, one day, to make a movie. I'm not sure if Cassavetes is so well-regarded for how his films look as for what they say, but each of his films looks really well-composed to me. It's the balance between what the pictures are saying, about the emotions and harsh light of life; and how cool, well-shot scenes can be. More "cool", to me, than the kids playing at intellectualism and artistry portrayed in the film.
Kids. It's the wrong word. Shadows captures some of the growing pains of young men. The guy who is caught with the shock on his face, when he realises his girlfriend is black. He can't escape it or hide from it. It is the centre of a film that had been quite relaxed presenting both races, working together. It does a lovely job of how this new "beat" generation, were taking a left cultural turn. Where Jazz is revered, and Jazz represents a disintegration of a racial barrier- music is so cool at shattering brittle, stupid obstacles in life. Unfortunately, one young man hasn't processed the implications of this new culture quickly enough; and is stranded with his guard down. He may have reasoned the whole incident had he been given the chance, but the story doesn't allow him that luxury. In Lumet's Q&A, the edifice of Timothy Hutton's entire idea about himself is destroyed because he has a racism inside himself that everybody seems to be able to read on his face. In late 80s NYC, people feel pity for him, or use it to manipulate him. In the fermenting 50s, the man is rejected, perhaps rightly, for an ignorant prejudice, that, being an intellectual cat he might have been able to hide, given enough warning. Beautifully handled, you can feel empathy, if not, sympathy, for both sides.
There is another section, where these guys face the consequences of tom-catting around, as young men do. One faces up; saying, you are bound to take a punch if you go looking for trouble. Another decides it isn't worth the pain. Two men at a crossroads being handed street lessons by the city. I love that mess.
I wonder if Cassavetes is an acquired taste. The improv has a brittle feel to it, but it is very much the man's forté. The "cool" is another touch. I could feel myself brushing past the stuttering nature to the dialogue, as if I can see where it works so well in later films, so here are the baby steps. The intellectual conversations in Shadows are the most painful to listen to. I feel the creator's strength is in presenting working people at rest and play; where emotions come out sideways sometimes, and not everyone knows the right things to say, or has the right cultural reference. Guys sitting around a table singing or strippers watching a martial arts movie. Art is an intellectual pursuit, and it has those pretensions, so studying the working guy in his habitat isn't the natural milieu for film. I like John Cassavetes so much, because he is so raw in this environment, and his people are extraordinarily ordinary.