Wednesdays: Drowning in the Bathtub
the Films of John Cassavetes
Programmed by Arthur Stachurski
2013-10-02 @ 7:00 PM 9:00 PM
Shadows
(John Cassavetes, 1959) · An improvised, jazz-scored film about interracial relations during the Beat Generation in New York City, "Shadows" follows black siblings in Manhattan. One brother falls in with bad company, while the sister, a relatively light-skinned girl who is trying to pass for white, gets involved in an interracial romance that crumbles when the white man meets her family. Cassavetes first feature, "Shadows" marks a watershed moment for independent film.
runtime: 87 min format: 35mm
2013-10-09 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
Faces
(John Cassavetes, 1968) · "Faces" was Cassavetes's breakthrough, a mean and manic journey through middle age, marriage, and infidelity composed largely of handheld close ups and nursery rhymes. The film impressed the Academy, baffled Pauline Kael, and earned the director his reputation as a wild card outsider in the age of New Hollywood. "Cassavetes is film's Bob Dylan," writes Jonathan Lethem in "The Disappointment Artist". "'Faces' is his 'Like a Rolling Stone'."
runtime: 130 min format: 35mm
2013-10-16 @ 7:00 PM 9:45 PM
Husbands
(John Cassavetes, 1970) · This film points the cinéma vérité lens towards the mid-life crisis. Cassavetes states: "I don't really know what Husbands is about at this point. You could say it's about three married guys who want something for themselves. They don't know what they want, but they get scared when their best friend dies. Or you could say it is about three men that are in search of love and don't know how to attain it. Or you could say it is about a person of sentiment."
runtime: 138 min format: 35mm
2013-10-23 @ 7:00 PM 9:00 PM
Before Sunset
(Richard Linklater, 2004) · Nine years after the events of "Before Sunrise", Jesse has become a best-selling novelist for a book based on his experiences in the previous film, but he has not seen Celine since. Finally meeting up with her once more in a Parisian bookshop during Jesse's book tour, they begin to share their experiences with each other. But things have changed for both of them, and they each have commitments and responsibilities which did not exist in the past...
runtime: 80 min format: 35mm
2013-10-30 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
Minnie and Moskowitz
(John Cassavetes, 1971) · Minnie Moore, ex-prom queen, now divorced museum curator, is dillusioned with love and life. She has a chance encounter with a hippy parking-lot attendant named Seymour Moskowitz, who falls in love with Minnie, and desperately tries to get her to love him back. The film stars Gena Rowlands as Minnie and Seymour Cassel as Moskowitz. Cassavetes, as director, shows a love for the idea of Moskowitz, who he called "the new symbol of hope for America."
runtime: 114 min format: 35mm
2013-11-06 @ 7:00 PM 10:00 PM
A Woman Under the Influence
(John Cassavetes, 1974) · Worried about his wife's strange mannerisms and increasingly odd behavior, Nick, a construction worker, has her committed to an institution for six months. center alone with three children, Nick finds himself no better than his unstable wife. Cassevettes produced the film by mortgaging his house and distributed it personally. Nominated for two Academy Awards, Richard Dreyfuss stated that after seeing it: "I went crazy. I went home and vomited."
runtime: 155 min format: 35mm
2013-11-13 @ 7:00 PM 9:30 PM
Mikey and Nicky
(Elaine May, 1976) · When Nicky steals money from a mob boss and has a bounty put on his head, he calls on his friend Mikey to help him escape. As they try to escape, their friendship is put to the test. Elaine May captured spontaneous interaction between Peter Falk and John Cassavetes by using three cameras that she sometimes center running for hours, producing more than 1.4 million feet of film. Though this led to production problems, the results are extraordinary.
runtime: 119 min format: 35mm
2013-11-20 @ 7:00 PM 9:45 PM
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
(John Cassavetes, 1976) · In this film, John Cassavetes tries his hand at neo-noir. Cosmo Vitelli is the owner of a LA strip joint. When he loses $20,000 at a mob gambling club that he doesn'th ave, the mob orders him to murder a Chinese bookie to clear his debt. What he doesn't know is that the bookie is actually a West Coast mob boss. When he gets away with it, all hell breaks loose. Starring Ben Gazzara (Roadhouse) as Cosmo, the movie is rough and gritty in all the right ways.
runtime: 135 min format: 35mm
2013-11-27 @ 7:00 PM 9:45 PM
Opening Night
(John Cassavetes, 1977) · Rowlands delivers not just a great performance but a manifesto on the art of performance as Myrtle Gordon, a film star turned thespian, determined to act her way out of aging and hopelessness. For this late feature, Cassavetes adds a liberal dose of 70s psychological horror to his usual blend of tragicomic meta-cinema, with disorienting and powerful results. Constantly being revisited and praised by critics, it is one of Cassavetes' densest works.
runtime: 144 min format: 35mm
2013-12-04 @ 7:00 PM 9:45 PM
Love Streams
(John Cassavetes, 1984) · Love Streams gives us a glimpse into a few days in the life of Robert Harmon (John Cassavetes) an obnoxious writer with a penchant for drugs and alcohol. His emotive sister, Sarah Lawson (Gena Rowlands), arrives at his doorstep with a pile of suitcases. As the others in their life abandon them, they find themselves relying on each other. At times incredibly hard to watch, this is possibly the richest and most complex of Cassavetes' films.
runtime: 141 min format: 35mm
