A Woman Under The Influence (Cassavetes, 1974) - First experience with Cassavetes. Remarkable performances by Faulk and Rowlands. It would have been too easy to portray Faulk as the monster abusive husband, and he's obviously much more complicated than that. I dont think there's any doubt he loves her deeply, but cannot express or receive love in meaningful way. When he trying to keep the family from spinning out of control, and things dont go the way he intends them, he can only express himself physically. Its kind of the Raging Bull syndrome. I love the trip to the beach, so desperate.
Rowlands is phenomenal. Her line between quirky and bizarre and dangerous is so subtle that you often miss it. The spaghetti dinner with Faulk's co-workers and Rowlands is well done. The line between jocularity and discomfort is almost invisible. Her homecoming is handled well, I love the supporting cast including Cassevetes' mom, who plays Faulks mother.
The soundtrack is great, very minimal but very effective. The camerawork which gets a lot of flack is fine I thought, very Dogme 95 or french new wave, can be unsteady at times, and quickly drifts into focus on people, but given the scenes, its fine, great even. I love the natural lighting. I thought the editing was OK - at 2:20, it could have been trimmed a bit, felt a bit long, but that's a minor complaint. Very little to criticize with this movie.
With The Long Goodbye, I'm on kind of a roll with 70s masterpieces. Got Chinese Bookie at home, so maybe I'll watch that next. Also queued up Faces. Any others? Maybe I should start a Cassevetes thread.
