Faces (Cassavetes, 1968): Prince Charles Cinema, 12.40pm
This
35mm presentation is part of a John Cassavetes/Gena Rowlands season at the Prince
Charles Cinema, with some of his greatest films being shown and all but one presentation from
prints. You can find the full details here. Faces also screens on 24th May and 9th June.
Chicago Reader review:
John
Cassavetes's galvanic 1968 drama about one long night in the lives of
an estranged well-to-do married couple (John Marley and Lynn Carlin) and
their temporary lovers (Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel) was the first
of his independent features to become a hit, and it's not hard to see
why. It remains one of the only American films to take the middle class
seriously, depicting the compulsive, embarrassed laughter of people
facing their own sexual longing and some of the emotional devastation
brought about by the so-called sexual revolution. (Interestingly,
Cassavetes set out to make a trenchant critique of the middle class, but
his characteristic empathy for all of his characters makes this a far
cry from simple satire.) Shot in 16-millimeter black and white with a
good many close-ups, this often takes an unsparing yet compassionate
"documentary" look at emotions most movies prefer to gloss over or cover
up. Adroitly written and directed, and superbly acted—the leads and Val
Avery are all uncommonly good (and the astonishing Lynn Carlin was a
nonprofessional discovered by Cassavetes, working at the time as Robert
Altman's secretary)—this is one of the most powerful and influential
American films of the 60s.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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