Gene Siskel Film Center – Wednesday, 7:30pm (repeats next week)
For
the uninitiated, the films of John Cassavetes are at best unknown and
at worst unappreciated. Marked by intimacy, chaos, and frequent
awkwardness, they are populated by characters who are not from the same
town as Jake LaMotta or even Harry Caul. The experience of a Cassavetes
film can often hit too close to home—as when someone's mood suddenly
shifts from jolly to angry, or when someone else blurts out an
unprovoked insult, followed by an extended uncomfortable silence. He has
a knack for allowing an actor to so fully inhabit the skin of their
character that even Peter Falk somehow ceases to be Columbo. One of his
finest achievements is A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE. Utilizing a crew of
both professionals and students from AFI—where he was serving as
"filmmaker in residence"—Cassavetes draws us into the marriage of blue
collar Nick Longhetti (Peter Falk) and his wife Mabel (Gena Rowlands,
Cassavetes’ real-life spouse) as she struggles with an unnamed mental
illness and raising their three children. If Mabel is unstable, Nick is
insecure and prone to violent outbursts. Neither of them is wired quite
right, but what makes Cassavetes' approach to the story remarkable is
his compassion for each of these deeply flawed, but not broken, people.
Moments of real love emerge from a caress or exchanged glance; Mabel's
social faux-pas are seen as simply quirks of her condition; and Nick's
violence towards a co-worker is dismissed as part of a bad day. These
actions are not justified; they are simply accepted by the filmmaker as
part of the human condition. The main setting is a small home in Los
Angeles, and the camera is often a silent child in the room, watching as
the parents overreact. Close-ups dominate the mise-en-scene, with
skillful hand-held shots sometimes approaching a documentary look—where
the focus struggles to keep up with the action. WOMAN is a film of raw
emotion laid bare; perhaps it is this intensity that continues to limit a
wider appreciation of his work. (1974, 155 min, 35mm) JH - Cine-File.info
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