John Cassavetes - Life, Death and Freedom

[Mr. Arkadin]

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Gena Rowlands. Did she do her best work for Cassavettes?

That depends on if you're a fan of Cassavettes. I would personally say yes. Another of her well known roles was playing opposite Kirk Douglas in the modern western, Lonely are the Brave (1962):

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Rowlands also did a lot of TV work (more than film) and can be seen on a variety of reruns, including old friend and fellow Cassavettes thespian Peter Falk's Columbo. The Maestro himself made a couple of appearances as well.

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[charliechaplinfan]

I've added the Kirk Douglas film to my rental list but it hasn't had a release here yet. Others on my list include Opening Night, Woman Under The Influence and Gloria.

I think I'd class myself as a Cassavettes fan, based on 2 movies.

[charliechaplinfan]

I've just watched the first hour or so of Woman Under The Influence. My oh my, I got into this one straight away. I've left the film just as Mabel gets committed. A few thoughts, Gena Rowlands is so natural in appearance that it's a joy to see, looking a little thinner here than in Faces but it suits the part. I'm not completely sure what Mabel's problem is, I thought at first alcohol but I think alcohol is just part of the symptoms, the problem seems to be manic. Her bringing the kids and their friends home was so tragic and comic at the same time, the poor father who dropped them off. Her mother in law should butt out if she can't be supportive and her husband, he has issues with rage. The treatment she gets from family and the doctor is appalling, she is someone to be pitied and cajoled and made to feel secure, I'd have gagged the mother in law. It's my kind of movie and a very strong performance from Gena Rowlands and the kids are a joy in what must be difficult scenes to film.

Can't wait to watch the rest of the movie, my sympathies are entirely with Mabel.

[Mr. Arkadin]

I think you've stumbled on one of the reasons (there are a lot of others) why Cassavettes is important, namely, the realism of his characters. We might not have the same backgrounds or find ourselves in the same situations, but we relate to their humanity, whether its harsh and brazen, or warm and tender. This is his genius: to make us feel what his players feel, and ultimately, to care about them.

[charliechaplinfan]

I managed to catch another 20 minutes at dinnertime, it was so dificult to turn off, I wanted to sit there watching more but chores beckoned. So now I've caught the coming home party, what was Nick thinking??? The more I watch it, the more I blame Nick for some of Mabel's problems. Not that he's a bad man perhaps he's just a little inarticulate, we don't know how long they have struggled with Mabel's depression. He does love her but doesn't know how to cope, he's a bit detached from his children too, nothing too unusual, many fathers made the money and left the upbringing to the mother. Yet he is close to them, witnessed by him playing with them on the bed when Mabel's mother brought the kids back. Infidelity might tear some couples apart but although he seems to know about it (and we don't know if this is the frist time, I doubt it) it's just a symptom of a bigger malady.

I've spent thirty years thinking Peter Falk was Columbo. I never even liked Columbo but I knew there was an actor hiding in there. He's really good.

Cassavettes departs from the white collar middle classes here, this family are blue collar. I feel more connected to this film but I guess it's because it centres around a housewife. I can't help thinking that Cassavettes is quite brave with his choice of subject, mental health is still talked about in hushed tones these days add to that the sexual promiscuity of women. wow. I've not even finished watching yet.

[charliechaplinfan]

I finished it. What a film. The characters, as with the other films are very real but this one seemed far more real than Faces, I don't know any ladies of the night but I know a couple of Mums who have come close to breaking down after having children. This film, had loads of little touches that I just loved, the fold down bed, the shared kids bedrooms, the mundanity of some of lives ordinary chores, like getting the kids ready for bed etc.

The ending was beginning to get heartbreaking, she asked her Daddy to stand up for her because Nick can be rough on her, touch love, perhaps that is a reflection more of the time it was made, I don't think anyone would advocate knocking a woman down from a settee but he thought he was doing it to bring her round. The kids, they kept running back to Mummy, not understanding either parent but desperate to keep and protect their Mum. I like to think that that Mabel will get better surrounded by the love of her nearest and dearest.

[ChiO]

Hey, Moe! Hey, Larry! I think we got a new afixiacado!

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

(Signed) Curly

What's next? SHADOWS? THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE? GLORIA? MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ?

[charliechaplinfan]

I certainly am, I'm getting quite the fan.

I think I'll either watch Love Streams via youtube or Opening Night. I read again last night what Peter Bogdanovich had to say about Cassavettes. They were close friends, Bogdanovich talks about each film in order and is equally reverant about Gena Rowlands, they sound very nice people, not showbiz at all. He represented Gena and John when Opening Night premiered in Holland, John Cassavettes died around the same time the film started.

[charliechaplinfan]

Where has Love Streams gone? I watched the first 5 parts last night and can't find it now. I'm rather new to youtube.

[ChiO]

When I tried, MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ popped up instead, with the additional message that: This video has been removed due to terms of use violation. So it's now gone from youtube. Curses.

[charliechaplinfan]

Curses indeed. Well I've still plenty more Cassavettes to discover. And I want to revisit Husbands and Woman Under the Unfluence, I'm sure I'll get even more out of them second time around.

[charliechaplinfan]

We were choosing a film last night and hubby refused point blank to let me put a Cassavettes on, this is because he's usually working on the computer and doesn't appreciate the nuances of Cassavettes films becaue he rarely looks up at the screen. He did watch the first two thirds of Woman Under the Influence with me last week and decided to give it his verdict last night. He thought she was only mad because of the way Nick treated her, that he was the one who really needed the therapy and that he frightened Mabel and hemmed her in and didn't know how to make her feel secure. I completely agree with his analysis, he felt Nick was a wife beater whereas I didn't, I thought he was floundering not knowing how to treat her and had reached a point of desperation.

[ChiO]

Picked up a new book (for me) yesterday: Cassavetes Directs: John Cassavetes and the Making of Love Streams (Michael Ventura, 2007). The author, among other things, was the curator for the Sundance Festival's 1989 Cassavetes retrospective.

Immediately turned to the back for the index, but there was none (there oughta be a law). So I read the last page. Ventura, having just returned from the Sundance retrospective, called Cassavetes to tell him how well it had gone.

I told him that when I'd seen Husbands many years before, I hadn't been married. Now that I'm a husband, with my marriage in the shape that it was in, I got that picture, or it got me.

Gently John said, "I love men. We're so stupid."

Then: "Come for coffee tomorrow."

Tomorrow was Tuesday. I needed a dentist tomorrow. I'd come Wednesday.

But Wednesday John was in the hospital. Friday he died.

Think of that and the last shot of LOVE STREAMS.

[charliechaplinfan]

I bet he regretted going to the dentist that Tuesday ever since.