Rating: 
Summary: GREAT MOVIE, NOT THE GREATEST DVD
Review: Regarding the movie - it's cinema verite style (in other words, kitchen sink realism) will make you feel distinctly uncomfortable and "there" in the room with Falk and Rowlands and their troubled relationship. For this reason alone, the film is amazing. Peter Falk is unbelievably strong. Anyone who sees him as just "Columbo" needs to cop a load of this movie. There are very few actors alive or dead who could deliver this kind of raw, honest performance - De Niro, Hoffman, Pacino, you name it. The problem I have with the DVD is, aside from the fact that there are absolutely no special features or anything, it is double-sided. Meaning, half way through the movie, you have to take out the disc and turn it over. I don't know if a lot of DVD's are double-sided but that was kind of a bummer for me. To other people, this may not be a big deal, though.
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie, awful DVD
Review: See the other reviews for words on the great performances and natural energy of this film; I want to warn everyone off this sub-standard DVD version.First off, the disc is 2-sided -- the last 45 minutes of the movie are on side 2 and the side break is extremely abrupt. The film is only about 2-1/2 hours long, it should comfortably fit on a dual-layer disc. Second, the film is presented in full screen, not letter-boxed in any way. Finally, the first side has some strange defect where the chapter/time elapsed are not available or displayed. This is supposed to be a "Special Edition"!
Rating: 
Summary: masterpiece
Review: This film by the geat auteur-humanist John Cassavetes is almost the equivalent of being punched in the gut.High art at it's most visceral.
Rating:
Summary: roller coaster of psychologial misunderstandings and emotion
Review: This film is a classic but not for those enamored of the shallow-action genre. I was glued to the story and character assemblage. A word of warning -I've consistently seen audiences emerge from theaters in tears after seeing this film - I've also had friends emerge from the film totally mystified and even angry at the perception that I'd recommended it to point out some personal weakness on their part. This film will stick with you as long as you don't suffer from attention deficit disorder.
Rating:
Summary: Simply one of the best
Review: This film is a gift from one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live. i'm too humbled by it to write a review. I will say that Gena Rowlands performance is as strikingly original and powerful as Brando's "Streetcar..." if you like "Woman under the influence," check out elaine may's "Mikey and Nicky" which stars john cassavetes and peter falk. Another gift.
Rating:
Summary: Simply one of the best
Review: This film is a gift from one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live. i'm too humbled by it to write a review. I will say that Gena Rowlands performance is as strikingly original and powerful as Brando's "Streetcar..." if you like "Woman under the influence," check out elaine may's "Mikey and Nicky" which stars john cassavetes and peter falk. Another gift.
Rating:
Summary: I highly recommend this DVD!
Review: This film is amazing! Also something not mentioned: The DVD has very smart liner notes by Ray Carney. Carney knew Cassavetes and has written many books about him. I recommend his Cassavetes on Cassavetes for more behind the scene insights. Carney also has a web site with sections devoted to this film. Highly recommended all round for background information.
Rating:
Summary: A national treasure
Review: This film is considered by those who consider such things to be a national treasure. Here is why they are right. It is the story of a woman (Rowlands) slipping into madness and her husbands (Falk) best attempt to deal with it. I can understand why most people have not seen this film because it is more than a bit uncofortable to watch at times and most cornfed middle Americans don't like dealing with such uncomfortable subjects. At times you feel very voyeuristic and claustraphobic. Even though, you feel ok in your claustraphobia, Cassavetes paints such a visually stunning picture that it's like being trapped in a place where there is lovely things to look at such as an orangery. This flick is not for everyone but it is for anyone who likes movies.
Rating:
Summary: A sublime masterpiece!
Review: This is an ambitious and harrowing drama around a mad housewife who belongs to the lower - middle class in search of her own identity . Gena Rowlands is one of the best fifty american actress in the XX century . She gave a devastating role in this deep and complex script . An unforgettable artistic achievement of John Casavettes and one of the twenty best films in that decade, without a bit of doubt.
Casavettes as all we know was one of the most irreverent and rebel film makers in all the cinema story . His concerns always focus on the human being and its demons who eventually seem domain . So his style is really disturbing , and he may be well considered an american director with european roots . The influences of Bergman and Antonioni are more than obvious .
Widely recommendable!
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Film, With WORK
Review: This is my favorite film. Maybe that's hyperbole, but when I think about which single film is the most exhillarating to watch, no matter how many times I see it, its probably this one film. Even though I know certain scenes are coming, its just as rough, just as crazy, just as exciting as the first time I witnessed it. This is a film that has touched things in me that I didn't know were there until they got tickled to life watching it.. not to mention the patience it continues to teach me (the great anticipator I am), and the pleasure it continues to assure me is MINE for the taking in my own life, if I only tune in and pay attention (your problems are not your problems - something this film oozes out of every pore... and it gets sweaty!) Anyway, when I tally those things up and ask myself where else has it so consistently been there for me, across multiple viewings, both on the small screen and the large, A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE stands alone -- well, almost - Mikey and Nicky (also with Falk and Cassvetes) tweaks some different nerves, but similarly - the friendship/other people nerve, rather than the lover/spouse/mother/family vibe of WOMAN.) But anyway, I'm just here to say, thank god for this film and for its re-release onto DVD. Watch this film with a loved one. And for even GREATER insight and inspriational exploration of this and other Cassavetes films, I highly reccomend getting Ray Carney's indespensible treasure of a book, the Films of John Cassavetes (or going to the cassavetes web site). It reveals nuance and draws your attention to things that you might not be looking for, as a 'normal' movie-goer. The summer I watched each Cassavetes film and read the corresponding chapters in the book, starting with Woman Under the Influence, changed my life - slowly but surely, starting with my movie-watching habits, and finally working on my life-experiencing ones (which are harder to break? you be the judge! Watch and read!) It continues to this day.
|
