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Author Topic: Completely Cassavetes (Personal John Cassavetes Marathon)  (Read 2233 times)

bobbyb

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Completely Cassavetes (Personal John Cassavetes Marathon)
« on: November 09, 2010, 02:48:58 PM »


Just over a month ago I embarked on my own personal John Cassavetes marathon, and I'm now more than halfway done. Out of all of the many influential directors / screenwriters I have yet to acquaint myself with, Cassavetes was probably the one I was most ashamed of having not yet seen any of his work. I call this one Completely Cassavetes in the sense that I've included some of the films that most others perhaps wouldn't. Besides all of his major works, I also included his two early, hard-to-find forays into Hollywood: Too Late Blues and A Child Is Waiting, as well as the last film he took over, Big Trouble, which is a film that he apparently hated. Also, since I own it but have never watched it since it came out, I'm also including She's So Lovely, the film his son Nick Cassavetes directed, based on John's screenplay. So the final list is as follows:

Shadows (1959)
Too Late Blues (1961)
A Child Is Waiting (1963)
Faces (1968)
Husbands (1970)
Minnie And Moskowitz (1971)
A Woman Under The Influence (1974)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Opening Night (1977)
Gloria (1980)
Love Streams (1984)
Big Trouble (1986)
She's So Lovely (1997)


It'll probably take me a while because I'm that unfortunate combination of busy and lazy, but I'll post my thoughts on each one as I have the opportunity to do so.

« Last Edit: November 11, 2010, 08:58:26 AM by bobbyb »
"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work ... I want to achieve it through not dying."
-Woody Allen

MartinTeller

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Re: Completely Cassavetes (Personal John Cassavetes Marathon)
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2010, 02:51:57 PM »
Looking forward to your comments.  I've only seen 8 of those, but a few (Influence, Faces, Love Streams) are among my favorites.

oneaprilday

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Re: Completely Cassavetes (Personal John Cassavetes Marathon)
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2010, 03:12:51 PM »
Sadly, Faces is the only Cassavetes I've seen. Looking forward to your write-ups!

bobbyb

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Re: Completely Cassavetes (Personal John Cassavetes Marathon)
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2010, 07:31:28 AM »
Shadows (1959)



The first movie in my personal John Cassavetes marathon was his directorial debut Shadows, which came out in an unofficial 78 minute version in 1957, before he released his final 87 minute version in 1959. I learned throughout the course of the marathon not to get used to this sort of brevity, since by and large, his movies run past the 2 hour mark. He made this one under pretty unique circumstances though. He was still a student in a New York acting class at the time, and the crew and actors were mainly made up of friends, classmates and volunteers while the film was put together on weekends and whenever they had the chance to steal away a couple of hours to do so. It's considered by many to be the benchmark of independent cinema, and rightfully so, as it's not difficult to see its influence in the works of directors like Bergman, Jaramusch, Linklater and Kevin Smith.

It follows the lives of three African American siblings who live together in beatnik New York. Benny (Ben Caruthers) is the jaded hipster, often seen in dark sunglasses, trying to pick up girls and working desperately to look as cool and aloof as possible. Hugh (Hugh Hurd) is the protective older brother, and apparently the acting parent of the three, since they appear to be living sans parents. Hugh is a semi-talented jazz singer who is trying to make it big but is apparently oblivious to the concept of one "paying his dues" as he simply complains about having to do things that are "beneath him." And then there's Lelia (Lelia Goldoni). At first, she seems to be the only one who isn't out to impress anyone as she carries herself as simply a funloving teenager who wants to have a good time. However, after her boyfriend Tony (Anthony Ray) meets her brothers and his prejudices become more apparent, even Lelia realizes that she may have to put up a wall or two in order to avoid getting hurt further.

The stories contained here are not anything that I haven't seen before, but what makes this movie so compelling is that the camera angles (a lot of uncomfortably unflattering close ups) and the seemingly improvisational dialogue create an atmosphere that enables the viewer to feel as if he's actually in the scenes, as opposed to simply watching them. I felt not so much as if I was following a storyline, but more as if I was eavesdropping into the lives of the individuals. The fact that this all takes place in an area and time period that never ceases to fascinate me, makes this movie twice as appealing for me personally. The film scats and jives rapidly through the lives of these people that it looks the way that jazz music makes me feel, that is, very cool. Speaking of music, Cassavetes uses it sparingly, not so much as a way to manipulate emotion as is usually the case in a Hollywood movie, but more to create a mood. The jazz saxophone stylings of Shafi Hadi, who played in Charlie Mingus' group, creates that mood successfully. Finally, the film also looks great. The 16 mm black and white was probably used out of necessity, but it suits the mood perfectly, and the film is an excellent snap shot of the time in which it was made. I loved this film!

Cassavettes continues to further hone the techniques that he uses here in his future films, and the feeling of being in the scenes associating with his characters becomes pretty much the standard of his work. But while I find spending time with the damaged characters in his future films exhausting, (but still rewarding in a different way), I found that I really liked hanging out with the people in Shadows. He continues to make "better" films for sure, but I'm pretty sure that this is the one that I'll be returning to most often.

Five stars (out of five)


"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work ... I want to achieve it through not dying."
-Woody Allen

 

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