Mubi are doing a John Cassavetes season... what's the deal with him? I've heard his name a lot but it seems like his films aren't really shown much so I only watched a couple. I am yet to work out if they are great or pretentious shiiite. I guess they are probably both? They are pretty entertaining. What is the general critical opinion of his films? And your own opinion?
John Cassavetes
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littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
A Woman Under the Influence is a brilliant film, imo.
Pretentious? I don't get that as a criticism. Not a bit of it.
Pretentious? I don't get that as a criticism. Not a bit of it.
I don't know that I meant it as a criticism on its own... it was just if it's pretentious shiiite that it would be a criticism
Reno
The In Kraut
I'm a huge fan of his films, he was a great actor and as a director he was pretty much the godfather of the American indie movie starting with Shadows in 1959. He's up there with my favourite directors.
I really don't think there is anything pretentious about his films, considering how influential they were on modern cinema. They are thoroughly heartfelt and a unique artists vision of human relationships and struggles. The only film which is slightly akward is his first as a director, due to an inexperienced cast. After that, especially starting with Faces which is about a marriage imploding over the course of one drunken night, his films are full of powerhouse performances. They are very much actor lead films as is understandable for an actor/director. The style of the films is in service of the improvisational performances, cinema verite, caught on the fly with lots of handheld camera. His films become more refined though and by the late 70s they are exquisitely shot. If you aren't into character studies and acting then his films may be too long for you, but I tend to find then riveting.
He made the occasional studio film of which Gloria, a drama about an ageing gangsters moll saddled with a kid who is the only survivor of a hit on a family, is probably the best (don't mistake it for the terrible remake with Sharon Stone). My favourite films of his are the ones he made with his wife Gena Rowlands, maybe the greatest and most under appreciated actor of American cinema of the 70s and early 80s. There is a sort of trilogy of films where the central character, always played by Rowlands, deals with mental illness or a mental breakdown of some sorts, A Woman Under the Influence, Opening Night and Love Streams. There is no self-pity or sentimentality about them due to Rowland's toughness as a performer which counteracts the vulnerabilities of her characters. All three films suggest that her "madness" is an integral part of her personality and that she isn't so much a victim as misunderstood.
That said, I think every film of his is worth checking out.
I really don't think there is anything pretentious about his films, considering how influential they were on modern cinema. They are thoroughly heartfelt and a unique artists vision of human relationships and struggles. The only film which is slightly akward is his first as a director, due to an inexperienced cast. After that, especially starting with Faces which is about a marriage imploding over the course of one drunken night, his films are full of powerhouse performances. They are very much actor lead films as is understandable for an actor/director. The style of the films is in service of the improvisational performances, cinema verite, caught on the fly with lots of handheld camera. His films become more refined though and by the late 70s they are exquisitely shot. If you aren't into character studies and acting then his films may be too long for you, but I tend to find then riveting.
He made the occasional studio film of which Gloria, a drama about an ageing gangsters moll saddled with a kid who is the only survivor of a hit on a family, is probably the best (don't mistake it for the terrible remake with Sharon Stone). My favourite films of his are the ones he made with his wife Gena Rowlands, maybe the greatest and most under appreciated actor of American cinema of the 70s and early 80s. There is a sort of trilogy of films where the central character, always played by Rowlands, deals with mental illness or a mental breakdown of some sorts, A Woman Under the Influence, Opening Night and Love Streams. There is no self-pity or sentimentality about them due to Rowland's toughness as a performer which counteracts the vulnerabilities of her characters. All three films suggest that her "madness" is an integral part of her personality and that she isn't so much a victim as misunderstood.
That said, I think every film of his is worth checking out.
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littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Yep, this for me too. I can only think that if you find them pretentious, you're reading more into them than is actually there.
No, I'm watching them with no knowledge of the director or any preconceptions, just totally as they come. Like I said it is no big problem for me things being a bit pretentious, it can even be entertaining... they're not meant to be perfect or polished after all are they?
Shadows and Too Long Blues are the ones I've seen, and the first bit of husbands, will probably finish that tonight. If I make it all the way through a film without falling asleep that is pretty outstanding, so his films are obviously doing something right for me.
Shadows and Too Long Blues are the ones I've seen, and the first bit of husbands, will probably finish that tonight. If I make it all the way through a film without falling asleep that is pretty outstanding, so his films are obviously doing something right for me.
Reno
The In Kraut
Too Late Blues was Cassavete's first studio film and was compromised by studio interference. It's among his weakest films because of that. He made a second studio film called A Child is Waiting and while interesting they don't really feel like Cassavetes films. He couldn't adjust to the compromises and lack of creative control and went back to being an independent film maker with Faces, which I think is his first masterpiece. I have to admit that of his independent films, I find Husbands the one I relate to the least. At least you've got some of his lesser films out of the way.
He embraced an aesthetic which was emotionally rough and jagged, the opposite of polished but as he evolved as a film-maker his films did become more slick. That has also to do with the success of A Woman Under the Influence, after which he managed to get larger budgets. He is very highly regarded but as one of the great American film makers of the New Hollywood era his films are probably less accessible than those of contemporaries like Coppola or Scorcese who embraced genre and who did manage to integrate more into the Hollywood system and then for a while at least, bend it to their will.
Indeliblelink
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A Woman Under The Influence & The Killing Of a Chinese Bookie are fantastastic, he was also great great as an actor in more populist things like Columbo or Two-Minute Warning
Reno
The In Kraut
Considering his films were mostly about emotions rather than intellectual concepts and had a matter of fact, semi-documentary style, what about them is "pretentious" ? If you don't like them you can maybe accuse them of being self-indulgent as they do tend to be quite long and are lacking in conventional action, but they certainly don't pretend to bring anything they are not. Cassavetes' films were never improvised btw they always were completely scripted, but he gave the actors more input into their characters than many other directors.Not for me. I remember watching a couple of largely improvised films and they were so wooden and pretentious....
Reno
The In Kraut
I think one of his best performances was in Rosemary's Baby. From the 70s onwards he appeared in a lot of rubbish though, strictly for the money to fund his own films.
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