Shadows
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orchidclub — 14 years ago(May 12, 2011 06:02 AM)
I find it curious that you say Husbands is Cassavetes' most watchable film. I think in many ways it's one of his more challenging films. If you're gonna try to get someone into Cassavetes, I would recommend Gloria because it's one of the easiest to watch while still retaining a lot of what makes his movies interesting.
I just watched Husbands for the first time yesterday, and personally, while I admire the film, it really lost me after the scene where Ben Gazzara comes home and slaps around his wife and mother-in-law. I actually liked that scene a good deal, and I was really with theb68 film before that, but after it, I found it hard to like Falk's and Cassavetes' characters because they didn't seem bothered by Gazzara's behavior. Of course, Cassavetes wouldn't care if I liked the characters he didn't make films so the audience liked them he wanted to capture how people really are, and people aren't always likable. But I thought it was a good film overall, particularly the singing contest scene. I was surprised at how moved I was by Gazzara's mother-in-law's reaction to being berated for her "terrible" singing. She was trying not to show her feelings, but you could see the hurt in her eyes. It was a very powerful moment.
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cassavetes45 — 14 years ago(May 12, 2011 08:26 PM)
queen, i respect your opinion about 'gloria', because that is definitely a much more watchable and main-stream movie than 'husbands' will eve2000r be.
and i must say, i'm glad i looked back at my previous post because i had forgotten how i went on so about 'husbands', and i was just about to repeat myself ad-nauseum!
i understand your feelings about how gazzara's character harry slaps around his wife and mother-in-law, but for me it's a bit hard to watch, and yet, as i'm sure you know, there was a lot of slapping around of women in most all of john's movies, even in the one's he just acted in. i'm not saying it was right, i'm a woman too, and i've thankfully never been in that position, i just think it was part of what john perceived.
i get what you mean about cassavetes/gus's and falk/archie's characters not being all that bothered by gazzara's behaivour, but they were like this band of brothers, so to speak. they were bonded MEN, and you KNOW how tight THAT can be!
the singing contest was terrific! and i know all of them were drunk out of their headsand yay for them! i will point out though, that it wasn't gazzara/harry's mother-in-law that was berated, but just one of the bar customers.
it's said that the actress actually was mocked by the 3 guys, and that's why her response was so true and so powerful. whether this is true or not, i'm only going by what i've read, and seen in documentaries.
i'll just say that a lot of cassavetes' films are very difficult for me to watch. and yes, that's how he intended them to be. from 'shadows'..all the way through to 'love streams..and all in-between..all of them put me in a place that i really am afraid to go to sometimes. it becomes rather uncomfortable for me..but i watch them anyway.
but with 'husbands', i don't know, i just find so much humour and slapstick and just about everything. i could pop it in right now and get so many laughs out of it, and also warmth.
thank you so much, queen, for sharing your thoughtsi truly enjoyed reading them.
hi, my name is carleeni'm harmless. -
orchidclub — 14 years ago(May 12, 2011 10:38 PM)
And I enjoy reading yours! Although I don't quite agree with you about Husbands overall, the first 50 minutes are as good as anything he ever made. I also rather liked the scene in the rain with Falk chasing the Asian girl. OH, and I almost forgot my favorite part in the whole movie where Falk is talking to the rich old lady who hits on him and does that weird, amazing thing with her mouth! It's unfortunate that, for me, the tiring scenes with the girls in the hotel room in particular the scene with Cassavetes and Jenny Runacre bring the movie down a bit, because I liked a lot of it. I'm hoping that the film grows on me as did some of my favorites like Opening Night and A Woman Under the Influence.
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cassavetes45 — 14 years ago(May 16, 2011 07:44 PM)
sorry for the late reply but i forgot about this.
i also loved the scenes that you have mentioned. that one with peter falk chasing the girl in the rain was truly a cinematic beauty. and the part with him talking to that weird older woman in the casino was priceless! i too noticed that odd thing she was doing with her mouth!hahaha! what the heck was THAT all about??!!
i understand why you didn't quite enjoy the scene with john and jenny in the bedroom. it was indeed too long, and too over the top. but i suppose that's just JC doing his stuff, as usual.
just a little asidewhen jenny runs out of the coffee shop in the rain, unbeknownst to her, john had planted some oil on the sidewalk so she would slip and fall. what a little bastard he could be! and i say that lovingly.
hi, my name is carleeni'm harmless. -
orchidclub — 14 years ago(May 16, 2011 08:03 PM)
Haha oh man, I didn't know that! I did wonder whether the fall was on purpose or accidental, and I assumed the latter knowing what I know about Cassavetes' films, but that's too much!
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dookiemestrebug — 13 years ago(December 25, 2012 05:03 PM)
Haven't seen 10 of his films yet.
- Love Streams
- Faces
- A Woman Under The Influence
- Shadows
- Opening Night
- The Killing Of a Chinese Bookie
they're all great films. The first 2 are easily in my top 30 films.
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orchidclub — 14 years ago(May 12, 2011 05:49 AM)
- Gloria *****
- Opening Night *****
- Love Streams *****
- A Woman Under the Influence *****
- Minnie and Moskowitz ***
- Shadows ***
- Faces ***
- Husbands ***
- A Child Is Waiting ***
- The Killing of a Chinese Bookie **1/2
I've yet to 1354see Too Late Blues or Big Trouble, but I will very soon and revise this list if I like them.
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death_jamm_productions — 14 years ago(May 20, 2011 06:23 PM)
Too late blues is excellent though could have been masterful with another lead actor and Big Trouble is just worth watching for Falk who is a master comic actor, Arkin shows that the In Laws was a fluke in terms of his ability
http://www.mickey-rourke.com/ -
Tyler_Seymour_Wallach — 14 years ago(November 06, 2011 09:51 AM)
Haven't seen ten, but (I'll update every time I see another of his):
01.
The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie
(9/10)
02.
Opening Night
(8/10)
03.
Gloria
(8/10)
04.
Too Late Blues
(7/10)
Watching
Gloria
tonight and
Faces
sometime soon. I think Cassavetes is the greatest technical director based on the first two alone, but in terms of telling a story, or as he put it "Being an adult," his narratives tend to exhaust their stay. The opening of
Opening Night
is some of the most brilliant filmmaking of all-time, but as it progresses and Cassavetes focuses on supporting characters for long one-shots it loses its charm and becomes another morbid look at adulthood. That's the one I've most recently seen.
Shame Review:
http://forizzer69.wordpress.com/review-shame/