John Cassavetes: Five Films (Shadows / Faces / A Woman Under the Influence / The Killing of a Chinese Bookie / Opening Night ) (The Criterion Collection)
by John Cassavetes
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ben Carruthers, Gena Rowlands, John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Seymour CasselDirector: John Cassavetes
Brand: Image Entertainment
Producer: John Cassavetes
Writer: John Cassavetes
Producer: Al Ruban
Producer: Maurice McEndree
Producer: Michael Lally
Producer: Phil Burton
Producer: Sam Shaw
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Box set, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 945 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-21
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of John Cassavetes: Five Films (Shadows / Faces / A Woman Under the Influence / The Killing of a Chinese Bookie / Opening Night ) (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: The Father of American Indie Cinema!
Summary: 5 Stars
John Cassavetes was an artist who believed that filmmaking's salvation lay in "individual expression" and applied this belief to his own movies. He is often credited as the father of American independent cinema and to be sure without him there would be no Martin Scorsese, Jim Jarmusch or John Sayles. For years, fans of Cassavetes' movies have had to suffer with grainy copies and substandard transfers on DVD (or, quite often no availability at all). The folks at Criterion have answered their prayers with a fantastic box set with five of the man's movies and Charles Kiselyak's epic documentary.
The Shadows disc features an interview with one of the film's stars, Lelia Goldini, who talks about how she met Cassavetes and her impressions of the man. She also covers the improv exercises that he would stage and how they developed into the movie. There is also an interview with Seymour Cassel who reminisces about how he met Cassavetes and how he got a job on the crew making Shadows. A real find is never-before-seen silent footage of rehearsals for the film in Cassavetes' acting workshop. Also included is featurette examining the painstaking restoration process that transformed the original print into this new glorious version. Finally, there is an excellent behind-the-scenes still gallery and a trailer.
Faces features an alternate opening sequence that was originally screened in Toronto and rearranges the chronology of scenes. "Cineastes de Notre Temps" is a French TV program that interviewed Cassavetes in '65 while he was making Faces and then again in '68 after it had been screened. The first interview finds him in a playful mood as he jokes about making a musical of Crime and Punishment. In the second interview he claims that he's the worst director but tries to create an environment that allows the actors to express themselves honestly. "Making Faces" is a 42-minute featurette with new interviews with Gena Rowlands, Lynn Carlin, Seymour Cassel and editor/producer Al Ruban. Rowlands talks about how they financed the movie themselves so they'd have complete control while Cassel talks about how Cassavetes was his best friend and mentor. Finally, Ruban discusses the equipment he used to shoot the film in the "Lighting and Shooting the Film" featurette. He goes through specific scenes via text and clips from the movie providing excellent insight into how certain techniques were achieved.
A Woman Under the Influence features an audio commentary by cameraman Mike Ferris and sound recordist/composer Bo Harwood. This movie marked the first time they worked together and they would go on to collaborate with Cassavetes on The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Opening Night. Next up, is an excellent conversation between Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk. They talk about Cassavetes' approach to filmmaking and fondly recount anecdotes about making the movie. There is also an audio interview done with Cassavetes in `75 that covers a wide variety of topics: improvisation, casting, directing and so forth. Rounding out the disc is a trailer and a rare collection of behind-the-scenes photos taken on the set of the movie.
Included on The Killing of a Chinese Bookie disc is the original 135 minute version released in `76 and the truncated 108 minute version that came out in '78. The first version was rush job and became a commercial and critical failure. It was pulled from theatres after a week and two years later Cassavetes cut almost 30 minutes out and re-released it. There is a fascinating interview with Ben Gazzara and Al Ruban. The actor recounts how the first audience to see the movie hated it and this broke his heart. Ruban also talks about the negative reaction and Cassavetes' desire to re-cut his movie as a result. There is another audio interview with Cassavetes where he talks at length about working in genres and how he got the idea for the movie. Finally, there is a collection of rare, behind-the-scenes photographs.
Opening Night features a conversation between Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara. They speak warmly and fondly about their experiences working on the movie, recounting several stories. There is also an interview with Al Ruban who talks about Cassavetes complete immersion in every aspect of his movies: sets, costumes and so on. There is another audio interview with Cassavetes where he talks about the play that occurs within the film and comparing movies to plays. Finally, there is a trailer.
Cassavetes fiercely believed that "to compromise an idea is to soften it, to make an excuse for it, to betray it." The five films that are included in this box set certainly adhere to these words and represent the man's pure and unfiltered artistic expression. This is an impressive box set that also includes a 68-page booklet with essays by Cassavetes and critics and interviews with the man that does a great job putting his movies and personal philosophy into the proper context.
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Summary of John Cassavetes: Five Films (Shadows / Faces / A Woman Under the Influence / The Killing of a Chinese Bookie / Opening Night ) (The Criterion Collection)
This boxed set includes the following titles: ? Shadows (1959) 81 min. B&W. 1.33:1 aspect ratio ? Faces (1968) 130 min. B&W. 1.66:1 aspect ratio ? A Woman Under the Influence (1974) 147 min. Color. 1.85:1 aspect ratio ? The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) 135 min. Color. 1.85:1 aspect ratio ? Opening Night (1977) 144 min. Color. 1.66:1 aspect ratio ? A Constant Forge (2000) 200 min. Color. 1.33:1 aspect ratio John Cassavetes has been called a genius, a visionary, and the father of independent film. But all this rhetoric threatens to obscure the humanism and generosity of his art. The five films included here represent his self-financed works made outside the studio system of Hollywood, on which he was afforded complete control. While about beatniks, hippies, businessmen, actors, housewives, strippers, club owners, gangsters, and children, all of them are beautiful, emotional testaments to compassion. Cassavetes has often been called an actor's director, but this body of work?astoundingly, even greater than the sum of its extraordinarily significant parts?reveals him to be an audience's director. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Shadows, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Opening Night in stunning new transfers. Includes Charles Kiselyak's A Constant Forge, a candid biographical documentary on the life and work of Cassavetes .Improvised by the cast, shot in black and white, John Cassavetes's first independent feature, Shadows, looked like no other film of its time. Cassavetes, seeking to both deal with social issues and create a new kind of cinema, told a story about a family of black siblings in Manhattan trying to make ends meet. Though it meanders at times, it features the kind of spontaneous emotion Cassavetes most wanted to elicit in his films.
A sensation in 1968, Faces earned Oscar nominations for actors Seymour Cassel and Lynn Carlin. Improvised and shot in an edgy, hand-held fashion, the film examines the disintegration of the marriage of a couple in mid-life doldrums. Each seeks solace elsewhere: husband John Marley with prostitute Gena Rowlands, wife Carlin with a free spirit played by Cassel. But neither finds anything approaching the fulfillment they feel is missing from the marriage. Indeed, in Cassavetes's probe of raw emotions, these people discover that, just maybe, the problem lies not with their spouse but with themselves.
The long, free-form drama A Woman Under the Influence is best appreciated as a good showcase for Rowlands, playing a woman whose sanity literally appears to be shattering as different aspects of her personality eclipse others at various times. Peter Falk plays her struggling, blue-collar husband, trying to understand the phenomenon and sometimes losing his patience. As with most of Cassavetes's works as a director, one can't help but find one's attention drifting in and out, but Rowland's performance is a key reason the film has been declared a "national treasure" by the Library of Congress.
The title of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie is the only commercial element in this fascinating character study by writer-director Cassavetes, who once again finds his cinematic soulmate in actor Ben Gazzara. The film uses verité technique to tell the story of Cosmo Vitelli (Gazzara), a Hollywood strip-club owner whose growing debt to a local gangster can only be erased if he agrees to kill a rival Chinese gangster. As usual, Cassavetes employs his favorite actors (including Seymour Cassel and the fearsome Timothy Carey) and vivid improvisation to give Chinese Bookie a tense atmosphere of emotional urgency.
Gena Rowlands stars in Opening Night, Cassavetes's drama of an aging, alcoholic stage actress in the days leading up to her latest Broadway opening. Like all of her collaborations with her writer-director husband, Rowlands is a woman on the verge of collapse, this time a lonely alcoholic whose very life is a performance. Overlong at 144 minutes, the film's long, loose scenes build through uncomfortable small talk and slow, tentative confrontations. Some of the scenes are edgy and thrilling, though many find this facet of Cassavetes pretentious and self-indulgent. Ultimately it's a matter of taste: if you like his style, you'll love this discomforting drama.
The eight-disc Criterion Collection set is filled out with the 2000 documentary A Constant Forge: The Life and Art of John Cassavetes, plus numerous interviews, a second version of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, a commentary track for A Woman Under the Influence, a 68-page book, and various other features.
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