Opening Night

Rating:
Summary: Making It Through
Review: First of all I am totally biased - words cannot express the respect I have for Gena Rowlands - she is my favorite actress. You can't help but be "seduced" by her - she is so lovely and has so much class. Even when the movie stinks bad she is at her utmost best. This movie confused me at first -but most Cassaveteses movies do. They frustrate and make one sweat with anger and anxiousness - and that's what makes them so good. Although it confused me it kept my attention and then I finally got it. Gena pulls you in making you sympathize with her plight while at the same time making you glad she gets what she deserves. I was a little disappointed that John had a small part - I love the way he's so cynical, distrusting, and funny at the same time. It's wonderful to see a man enjoy giving his lady the spotlight. I was new to his movies - absorbing them is an experience. How does the saying go - I was lost but now I'm found! If you're looking for entertainment that makes you think and summons your deepest emotions, well you've just hit the tip of the iceberg...

Rating:
Summary: Making It Through
Review: First of all I am totally biased - words cannot express the respect I have for Gena Rowlands - she is my favorite actress. You can't help but be "seduced" by her - she is so lovely and has so much class. Even when the movie stinks bad she is at her utmost best. This movie confused me at first -but most Cassaveteses movies do. They frustrate and make one sweat with anger and anxiousness - and that's what makes them so good. Although it confused me it kept my attention and then I finally got it. Gena pulls you in making you sympathize with her plight while at the same time making you glad she gets what she deserves. I was a little disappointed that John had a small part - I love the way he's so cynical, distrusting, and funny at the same time. It's wonderful to see a man enjoy giving his lady the spotlight. I was new to his movies - absorbing them is an experience. How does the saying go - I was lost but now I'm found! If you're looking for entertainment that makes you think and summons your deepest emotions, well you've just hit the tip of the iceberg...

Rating:
Summary: Behind-the-scenes info for Cass buffs
Review: For a fascinating behind-the-scenes info about Opening Night and a list of books about Cassavetes' work, go to Ray Carney's website dedicated to John Cassavetes (found through any search engine).


Rating:
Summary: For More Information
Review: Just a note that for anyone who wants important background information about Opening Night and how it was made, I highly recommend Ray Carney's Cassavetes on Cassavetes book, which is available on [Amazon.com] at a great price. Carney has amazing behind-the-scenes information about how Cassavetes created all of his no-budget wonders completely outside the system. Carney knew Cassavetes and had a series of conversations with him before his death about his philosophy of life and art. Carney also has a terrific web site with writing on Cassavetes and other indie filmmakers. Great movie and great supporting info. Both well worth checking out.

Rating:
Summary: The rebellion of the woman in the actress against the author
Review: Quite a strange film of actors playing actors' problems. It is not a masterpiece and yet it deals with an important problem in the acting profession. An actor or an actress must never play her own real life. In this case this actress is unable to play properly because she does not feel the part because it is her own life and she is afraid of having to face the fact that she is aging, that she is no longer 18 and that she is lonely in her life because she is haunted by this girl she used to be. So she has to learn how to cope with herself, with the ghost, with the past that will never come back. And she manages to cope but in the most hateful way : she gets drunk just before getting on the stage. That does not go very far, and it is hard to believe. It does not take you knowing hundred of actors to know that acting is very difficult when you are drunk, and this state is very visible, even with the best. But since we never see the play in full, only some small pieces, it does not matter really, though since we had seen some of these pieces being rehearsed, we know that the text was changed and the acting was not following the directing. In fact the most interesting character in the film is the old female playwright who is 65 and who hates actresses and actors because she cannot get any one to play what she is and what she feels, because the play is directly drawn from her own experience and there is no leeway anywhere to enable the actress to get off that muddy ground. The author is so personal that she glues the actress to the ground with her own mire. That film could have been a lot better if it had tried to get out of this narrow vision.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant 'actor's film'
Review: Truly outstanding film about the theater, actors and alcoholism. Only Cassavetes and Rowlands could get this kind of truth on to film - don't miss it! A huuuuuge hit here in Europe!