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By PAUL BRENNER
John Cassavetes was a
one-of-a-kind filmmaker; there was never a film
like a Cassavetes film before Cassavetes came
along and there will probably never be a film like
a Cassavetes film again. Taking his cue from Orson
Welles, Cassavetes wrangled acting jobs in
Hollywood in order to finance his films by
himself, permitting him total creative freedom,
unfettered by the constraints of Hollywood. The
best part is that Cassavetes made his subterranean
films in Hollywood, right under the nose of the
movie studios (Welles had to leave to country to
get his films made).
Now Criterion has gathered five of Cassavetes'
finest films -- "Shadows," "Faces," "A Woman Under
the Influence," "The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie,"
and "Opening Night" ("Husbands" and "Love Streams"
are not included; "A Child Is Waiting," "Too Late
Blues," and "Big Trouble" are lesser Cassavetes
Hollywood forays) -- in an impressive, important,
and intelligently restored eight-disc boxed set
called "John Cassavetes: Five Films." Anyone
interested in great filmmaking should run, not
walk, to the nearest video store and grab the box
and take it home to savor at the dinner table with
a well-made martini and a plate of spaghetti.
Cassavetes films throb with the pulse of the real
and the shock of the immediate. His rough and raw
cinematic outbursts punch through actorly
technique and fancy cinema style in a minimal and
visceral charge to grab and shake viewers out of
their complacency and smugness. It is not easy to
experience a Cassavetes film and it shouldn't
been. Unlike most films, the Cassavetes films are
tortuous and troubling but, in the end,
exhilarating and life affirming. Characters in
Cassavetes films are caught in moments of psychic
epiphany, their ordered worlds ready for collapse.
Plot becomes secondary as emotions and feelings
become primary -- "everything in film is of the
moment...or should be." With Cassavetes, "the
immediate art" found a complimentary style --
non-ostentatious, grainy, and gritty.
Cassavetes's first film, "Shadows," resulted from
a pitch Cassavetes made to the listeners of Jean
Shepherd's late night radio show to send in money
to invest in an independent feature film. Much to
Cassavetes' surprise, the next day $20,000 arrived
for Cassavetes to make a film. After raising
another $20,000, Cassavetes shot "Shadows" with an
obscure cast of out-of-work actors and
fly-by-night non-actors. After the film won the
Critic's Award at the Venice Film Festival, it was
picked up for distribution by British Lion and
exhibited in the United States, where it caused a
sensation; the American independent feature film
movement was born.
After over 40 years, the film has lost none of its
punch. "Shadows" concerns an inter-racial romance,
but the narrative thread is weak and Cassavetes is
more concerned with character interactions and
relationships. He walks a fine line as his
characters lumber through a shadow land New York
City, where the city locations (theater and film
marquees, nightclubs, and Broadway shops) serve as
a Greek chorus commenting on the characters'
lives. "Shadows" is also the first instance of
Cassavetes's predilection for showcasing marginal
characters on the fringes of the action (as in the
woman who wants to pick up a guy at a bar, "Wanna
finish your drink? Good boy! Big Boy!").
The extras include an interview with actress Lelia
Goldoni, an interview with actor Seymour Cassel,
workshop footage, a stills gallery, the theatrical
trailer, and a restoration demonstration.
"Faces" was Cassavetes biggest critical and
commercial hit and it is spread across two discs
in the collection. The film charts the collapse of
the marriage of an affluent middle-aged couple
(John Marley and Lynn Carlin) as they seek solace
in separate one-night stands in an effort to
deaden the pain. Cassavetes brilliantly conveys
the put-on facades of people who have lost touch
with their souls -- as one-character remarks
"Nobody has time to be vulnerable to each other."
But then the truth spills out in cutting and
rapid-fire one-liners ("I want a divorce" "Spoil
what? How much do you charge?" "What the hell do
we care about two whores?"). The madhouse peals of
laughter obscure the pain underneath. When Maria
(the wife) tries to kill herself after spending
the night with an aging ladies' man, Chet (Seymour
Cassel), Cassavetes turns that bleak act of
desperation into a sign of hope. "Come on. Come
on. Cry! That's it. That's life!" exhorts Chet.
The second "Faces" disc includes the supplements
-- an alternate opening, a French documentary on
Cassavetes, a documentary on the making of
"Faces," and a segment on lighting and shooting
the film.
With "A Woman under the Influence," Cassavetes
channels a housewife cracking at the seams. With a
truly great performance by Gena Rowlands, "A Woman
under the Influence" eviscerates the American
family. Rowlands, as Mabel, can't fragment her
personality enough for her well-meaning but dense
husband Nicky (Peter Falk). As a role model wife,
mother, daughter-in-law, and lover, Mabel has
diluted her self until there is no Mabel left. As
she tells Nicky, "Tell me what you want me to be.
I can be that. I can be anything." She can be
anything because she is nothing. When she
discovers that Nicky has arranged to have her
committed to a mental hospital, she has a mental
collapse in one of the most harrowing crack-scenes
ever put on film. It takes Mabel's meltdown for
Nicky to realize what he's lost ("This woman
cooks, sews, makes the bed, washes the bathroom;
what the hell is crazy about that?") and it is
only when Mabel returns and tries to slit her
wrists in front of her family that Mabel and Nicky
can finally relate to each other. Only a howl of
pain will set you free.
As an added dividend, the film also features a
truly frightening performance by Cassavetes's
mother Katherine, who plays Mabel's mother-in-law
in a truly shrill and scary fashion ("Hey doctor?
Aren't you going to give her a shot?").
The extras on "A Woman under the Influence"
include an audio commentary with cameraman Mike
Ferris and sound recorder/composer Bo Harwood, an
interview with Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, an
audio interview with Cassavetes conducted by
Michel Ciment and Michael Wilson, a stills
gallery, and the trailer.
"Faces" and "A Woman under the Influence" were
Cassavetes's high water marks of commercial and
critical success (both films garnering multiple
Oscar nominations). But after "A Woman under the
Influence" (at least in the United States),
Cassavetes's films became more and more critical
of the artistic struggle and more willing to
indulge in directorial embellishments. With
Cassavetes's soul closer to the surface of the
celluloid, the films became quickly marginalized
in the United States, with shorter and shorter
theatrical runs, abetted by American critical
condescension.
In "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie," Cassavetes
identifies fully and completely with Ben Gazzara's
Cosmo Vitale, the owner of a strip club who treats
his De-Lovelies and his manic depressive host Mr.
Sophistication (Meade Roberts) as his beloved
family. Cassavetes's camera locks onto Gazzara as
if the camera were a heat-seeking missile. Cosmo
gets into a heavy debt with a pack of gangsters
and is compelled to commit a murder to pay off his
debt or lose his club. It doesn't take too long to
realize that this neo-noir is actually a metaphor
for the struggle for Cassavetes's artistic
integrity and control. Cosmo could just as easily
be a maverick independent filmmaker trying to
raise money for his next production, forced to use
dirty Hollywood money to keep the film going. If
such a thing is possible in the world of
Cassavetes, "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie"
could well be Cassavetes's most personal film.
Criterion offers two versions of the film. One
disc features the original 135-minute 1976 cut,
which was quickly pulled from theaters. In this
version, the noir storyline is quickly buried in a
sea of Cassavetes digressions, a ploy that not
only alienated adventuresome filmgoers but many of
Cassavetes's diehard fans. After two years of
editing, the film was re-released in a svelte 108
minute cut, eliminating most of the minor
characters' elucidations and focusing on Cosmo's
downfall. This version is also supplied by
Criterion.
The difference? Version two is more focused and
story-driven. Version one is more concerned with
character psychology and in the end is more
moving. They both have their advantages, without
having too much to quibble about otherwise. The
extras include interviews with Ben Gazzara and Al
Ruban, an audio interview with Cassavetes, and a
stills gallery.
"Opening Night" features another great crack-up
performance by Gena Rowlands, playing the famous
movie actress Myrtle Gordon. Myrtle is having
trouble dealing with middle age as she discovers
herself appearing in a mediocre play called "The
Second Woman," written by an elderly playwright
(Joan Blondell) who is entering old age and is
using aging as a theme in her play. Myrtle
staggers through the rehearsals in a haze of
cigarette smoke and booze, fighting off the ghost
of her younger self in the process. Myrtle battles
to strip away her image of herself as a young girl
and learn to become comfortable in her own
mid-forties skin ("I am not me. I used to be me
but I am not me anymore"). Of course being an
actress in a play, her turmoil is played out in
front of an audience, fellow actors, and a
flippant director, played by Gazzara ("Myrtle,
everybody loves you. You're a super high-priced
professional."). Ultimately, she arrives dead
drunk on opening night in New York City and finds
her center onstage in front of an opening night
crowd. During a scene change in the show she
receives the ultimate compliment from a member of
the stage crew: "I've seen a lot of drunks in my
day, but I've never see anyone as drunk as you and
still be able to walk. You're fantastic!"
The extras include an interview with Ben Gazzara
and Gena Rowlands, an interview with
cinematographer Al Ruban, an audio interview with
Cassavetes, and trailers for the film.
The last disc presents an hagiographic 200 minutes
documentary on John Cassavetes directed by Charles
Kiselyak, called "A Constant Forge: The Life and
Art of John Cassavetes." Short on biography but
long on reverence, the film in both its unfettered
love and expansive length is an appropriate cherry
on the cake after watching two decades of
Cassavetes films. The disc also features short
biographies of recurring Cassavetes players and a
poster gallery of Cassavetes films.
There is no sense in stating the importance of
this DVD release except to simply say that
Cassavetes is, perhaps, the most important,
under-appreciated filmmaker in American film
history and Criterion, by releasing this set, has
raised the bar of significant releases on DVD.
Cassavetes films can teach hungry film viewers
much about themselves, about art, about film,
about life, about relationships. "John Cassavetes:
Five Films" is a balm for the soul. |
