Love is Dead

Thanks to the good folks at BAM, Filmbrain can now scratch one title from his "dying to see" list. Though a VHS copy of John Cassavetes' second-to-last film Love Streams could be found at better video stores, there was no way that Filmbrain was going to sit through a pan-and-scan version (though at times the temptation was great). On Sunday his dream of seeing it on the big screen came true, sweetened by the fact that it was a new print straight from the lab. Time (and an overwhelming need to see it a second time) doesn't permit for a full length review, but Filmbrain is seriously toying with the idea that Love Streams might be his greatest film. A culmination of themes explored in earlier works, Love Streams is Cassavetes in the eXtreme, and the experience while watching it is akin to being kicked in the sternum, repeatedly. The film is replete with the type of characters (and associated behaviors) you'd expect to find in a Cassavetes film -- middle-aged men behaving like impulsive children, children imitating adults by drinking and smoking, adulterous husbands and mentally unstable wives, tuxedo clad machos full of bravado and the bevy of young women who adore them, etc. There's an air of loneliness that permeates the whole film, and virtually every character suffers from a lack of love. It's interesting to note that this is one of the few films Cassavetes directed that he didn't write. You'd never guess while watching it, for the raw desperation and character interplay is so very Cassavetian. (A fair amount of the dialog is clearly improvised.) What's remarkable (and unique) about the film is the way in which it gradually progresses towards decay, stripping itself down to the barest of elements, as if Cassavetes knew this would be some sort of farewell. (It's also the only Cassavetes film to make use of elaborate dream/fantasy sequences.) After two hours of non-stop interactions with strangers, hookers, rediscovered family members, therapists, former spouses, lawyers, etc., the film ends up with John and Gena surrounded by animals (which at one point are mistaken for humans), trapped like some latter-day Noah while a storm of biblical proportions rages around them. Shot in their own Los Angeles home, much of the film's success rests with John and Gena's ability to transcend language and communicate (to each other and the audience) via their own love streams. Gena has never looked lovelier, and John never worse (the bags under his eyes are horrifying), and what the two of them shared as both artists and husband and wife is fully exposed here as never before. Love Streams is one of the most beautiful, yet painful films of all time. Love Streams is only available on a French DVD, though it comes packaged with another Cassavetes rarity, 1963's A Child is Waiting.

Comments

[Matt]

It's quite something, isn't it?

[Filmbrain]

Indeed it is. . .

Haven't watched a film since -- feel like everything will pale in comparison. I'm still reeling from it.

[Aaron]

OK, but seriously Filmbrain. I think that you might wind up much less melancholy some of the time if you STOPPED looking for films that kicked you in the sternum! (Like I'm one to talk.)

But actually, could you tally it up? Is that your greatest compliment? I think it might be.

Although ... you know, I would love to see some pullquote saying, "It's like being kicked in the sternum." -- Filmbrain. And in fact, if you ever started a ratings system, you could give a film a number of kicks, with a little picture of you doubled over with a foot kicking you right in the chest. "It's like being kicked in the sternum FIVE times!" Ouch.

I kid, I kid. But still, I'm just saying ...

[Aaron Hillis]

And you thought a sternum-kicker would have been good for me to see in the throes of an excruciating hangover that left me thinking I was pregnant from all the hot flashes? Looker, if you're reading this, I was still drinking for 4 more hours after you, Filmbrain and I parted ways. It's no wonder I only post contests these days.

*hic*

[Peter Nellhaus]

I just saw the note about you making an in person appearance at the Soho Apple store. Congratulations. I did see Love Streams theatrically. I didn't like it as much as some of Cassavetes' other films, but maybe I should see it again. I also saw A Child is Waiting when I was 12 in a theater. I got to meet Cassavetes in 1970 at Columbia Pictures NYC with some other film students. He actually hugged me when I told him how Faces got me out of the depression I was in when my parents were getting a divorce.

[Campaspe]

A Child is Waiting broke my heart when I saw it.

[Filmbrain]

Aaron #1 - what can I say -- I seem to respond best to films that tear me apart. I love the idea of the ratings system though. . .

Aaron #2 - That both you and Looker bailed on the screening is lame beyond words. I'm twice your age, drank just as much, and was fit as a fiddle on Sunday. As penance, you and Looker have to go see Dreamer. Together.

Peter -- That's a really wonderful story about meeting John, and especially how Faces helped you through that difficult time.

[la_depressionada]

in many ways my father was a sadistic pedagogue. i mean no 8 year old needs to sit through shadows. trust me. daddy was a big cassavetes fan (natch he was greek and that was almost italian and that was good enough for my father) and when channel 13 showed his movies from time to time -- well we only had one tv -- so that was the night's viewing. although i prefered him to bergman when i was in 4th grade, he was no cocteau who was my absolute fave.

oddly enough it was minnie and moskowitz that turned me around (i still love seymour cassel), but although love streams is a poetic elegy -- i've got to go with the one two punch of women under the influence and chinese bookie -- to me they're complementary to each other -- male and female like.

[Aaron Hillis]

Please never refer to me as Aaron #2 again. No offense, Dobbs.

[Sal C.]

I saw that pan & scan VHS tape years ago and the memory still haunts me. It is far from perfect, but I can't think of a Cassavetes film that is. Calling a film "perfect" requires a level of craftsmanship so far outside what Casavetes was striving for to be besides the point. Love Streams may, however, be the most brutally beautiful look at middle-age love ever put on the screen.
Filmbrain, just be careful when saying "a fair amount of the dialog is clearly improvised" about any Cassavetes film. It is an easy assumption but a false one in many instances (For instance, I was amazed to learn after seeing the film that Faces was filmed almost entirely as scripted).

[aaron #3 (the cool one)]

I've yet to see Love Streams, but from what I've read about it, it seems to be the most difficult Cassavetes film (which is saying a lot). It's my understanding that he re-wrote the play on which it was based so much that the playwright considered the film adaptation more or less Cassavetes' own story.

As far as improvisation goes, the dialogue wasn't on-the-spot, but the emotional delivery was. Cassavetes left it up to the actors to interpret their parts and was notoriously vague about giving specific directions.

[Alex]

Watch the documentary "John Cassavetes: I'm Almost Not Crazy" for a making-of of Love Streams. There is a scene where you see him re-scripting the dialog of a key scene, talking to his script girl and getting irked when she omits to write something down.

[Noah]

The VHS copy of the film isn't only pan & scan, but it is cut by nearly 20 minutes. I was lucky enough to see a pristine print of it at the New Beverly Cinema in Hollywood on a double bill with Minnie and Moskowitz a few months ago.

[jfigl]

Thanks, Filmbrain, for the lovely writeup and for the tip on that French DVD. I have a mint copy of the VHS which I like just fine (somehow it spent the last 20 years in shrinkwrap), but the bonus film on the disc may just get me spending some euros.

Bo Harwood's score for "Love Streams", the closing number in particular, gives me chills just to think about. I, too, believe that truly profound art is more often than not like a kick to the sternum. I did get a chuckle out of Aaron #1's comment, though.

[Filmbrain]

Alex -- where can I find this documentary? Sounds great!

I recently read an interview with Gena Rowlands where she talks about the improvisation in Love Streams, particularly in the dream sequence where she's trying to make her family laugh, and in the animal sequence.

FYI to all -- I ordered the DVD from www.fnac.com in France on Monday and the DVD arrived on Wednesday. Wow!

[Filmbrain]

jfigl -- Actually, the music throughout the film is just wild. I noticed in the end credits that Cassavetes co-wrote the song he dances to with Diahnne Abbott's mother.

[charles]

hey filmbrain, did you recall which studio logo preceded
the print of the film? I ask only if to substantiate a future
release in the american isles on the DVD formattenn.

[jfigl]

Margarita (Margaret Abbott) exclaiming that she may not have "a good enough costume", Robert (Cassavetes) indulging her crush, and Robert admonishing Susan (Dianne Abbott) not to be a killjoy to her mother -- three beautiful moments among many.

[Filmbrain]

Charles -- I'm pretty sure this new print had no studio logo, though it did have the Cannon Films logo in the beginning.

Amazing that this is a Golan-Globus production -- the team that brought us such gems as Delta Force and Missing In Action.

[Kris]

Golan-Globus was a name I noted while the title screen for "Death Wish IV" scrolled on HBO the other day. I knew I knew the name in relation to Cassavetes somehow. Go figure.

The French "Love Streams" DVD gets a pretty good writeup from DVDbeaver, so I think it's the one to go with if you can't wait. But if you say there's a new print out and about, wouldn't be surprised if Criterion picked up the rights to it. It'd be great if they double-billed it with "I'm Almost Not Crazy." That doc got an ancient VHS release but I've never seen it. By the by, I'd never heard of the VHS "Love Streams" being cut by 20 minutes. That means it's a pretty long flick, because I remember the VHS I own being over 2 hours.

I agree with those who say it's their favorite Cassavetes. If I had to go with one, I'd say this one, too (though most of em are brilliant).