Where would George Clooney and Sean Penn be without John Cassavetes? How would they know to make crap movies for cash so they can pursue their much more pretentious artistic dreams by grabbing control of the reigns and writing/ directing themselves. The reality is probably nowhere, because Cassavettes created the mold, acting in TV, though also the Dirty Dozen and Rosemary’ Baby alongside numerous other features and guest appearances to fund his incredibly idiosyncratic cinema. When you watch a John Cassavetes helmed film you suddenly realise how one dimensional, how superficial most cinema is. He is considered the ultimate actors director as he would use the script as bare bones and encourage his actors to explore the true spirit of the character, to continually improvise, to continually create and work on the scene to get to the truth. As a result many of his films are emotionally complex, dense and at times pretentious, with Cassavetes refusing to buy into traditional Hollywood binary logic. In Cassavetes eyes people aren’ merely good or bad, there are numerous shades between, and it goes much further than simply presenting flawed characters. He was encouraged by a loyal band of cast and crew, most notably his wife Gena Rowlands who is uniformly exceptional in all of these films, also Seymour Cassell, Ben Gazerra and Peter Falk who occasionally bankrolled some of the productions thanks to the success of Colombo. This is a seven disc set, featuring two different cuts of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, the incredibly raw and powerful Woman Under the Influence which is a tour de force for Rowlands, the surreal but accomplished Opening NIght, as well as some of his early films like Faces and Shadows. There’ also a great feature length documentary A Constant Forge which utilises Cassavetes own words to provide an insight into his work and drives. Cassavetes is regularly referred to as the father of independent American cinema, yet his work is not merely a historical footnote. It is as raw and vital, as imperfect and human as the day it was made.
Bob Baker Fish
