Cassavetes

Myrtle Gordon is a Broadway actress rehearsing for her latest play, SECOND WOMAN, which concerns a woman who is unable to admit that she is aging. When a beautiful young fan gets hit by a car while trying to chase Myrtle down, she begins to ponder her own mortality, seeing visions of the young girl. This prompts Myrtle to challenge the playwright and director as to the play's overriding hopelessness; when opening night approaches, it appears that she has lost touch with reality.

Myrtle Gordon, actriz de Broadway, ensaya su último obra sobre una mujer incapaz de admitir que envejece. Cuando es testigo de la trágica muerte de una de sus fieles seguidoras, comienza a enfrentarse al torbellino en la que su propia vida personal y profesional se ha adentrado. "Opening Night", con escenas rodadas con la presencia de público que reaccionan con libertad a las actuaciones que ven sobre el escenario, expone el drama de una actriz que, con gran desgaste personal consigue hacer suyos los papeles que interpreta.

The disintegration of a marriage is dissected in John Cassavetes’ searing Faces. Shot in high-contrast 16 mm black and white, the film follows the futile attempts of captain of industry Richard Forst and his wife, Maria, to escape the anguish of their empty marriage in the arms of others. Featuring astonishingly powerful, nervy performances from Marley, Carlin, and Cassavetes regulars Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel, Faces confronts suburban alienation and the battle of the sexes with a brutal honesty and compassion rarely matched in cinema.

Richard Forst, un maduro hombre de negocios casado, tiene una aventura con la joven Jeannie, y acto seguido le pide el divorcio a su mujer, María. Después de que Richard se haya ido de casa para estar con Jeannie, María conoce a un tipo en un bar y pasa la noche con él. A la mañana siguiente, Richard vuelve a su casa y encuentra a su esposa con su amante. Cuando éste huye, el matrimonio se tiene que enfrentar al problema cara a cara.

John Cassavetes’ devastating drama details the emotional breakdown of a suburban housewife and her family’s struggle to save her from herself. Starring Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands (in two of the most harrowing screen performances of the 1970s) as a married couple deeply in love yet unable to express that love in terms the other can understand, the film is an uncompromising portrait of domestic turmoil. One of the benchmark films of American independent cinema — an heroic document from a true maverick director.

Cassavetes vuelve a plasmar con inigualable fuerza el retrato y los sentimientos de una mujer, un ama de casa mentalmente inestable con continuos cambios de humor que bordean la enfermedad. Falk es su marido, un trabajador que trata de comprenderla, pero que se enfrenta a un problema que se ve incapaz de resolver.

In Cassavetes’ very personal neo-noir, Cosmo Vitelli (Ben Gazzara, in the performance of a lifetime), a small-time but passionate strip joint owner, gets in debt to the mob and is forced to commit the title act to make amends.

Cosmo Vitelli se enfrenta a un dilema de vida o muerte: o paga con dinero que no tiene una deuda de juego ilegal o mata a otra persona como pago para evitar su propia muerte.

Three friends, Harry, Archie and Gus, (Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk and John Cassavetes) embark on a cleansing weekend of the soul after the sudden death of their friend. On a whim these middle-aged New Yorkers decide to flee to London to gamble, party and test the boundaries of life…

Gus, Harry, and Archie, three husbands with families in suburban New York, are shaken when their best friend suddenly dies of a heart attack. Unable to return to work after the funeral, they take off on a weekend-long debauch, with way too much drinking and loose women. In the process, they have lengthy heart-to-hearts about the nature of friendship, manhood, and marriage, among other things.
As strong an example of Cassavetes's improvisational art as any of his films, this film may test your patience with his indulgent treatment of actors, allowing them to explore their characters on film. Sometimes they come up empty, but more often, they find precious moments and revelations. And these three guys play off each other like long-time partners in a high-wire game of chicken in which they all emerge as winners. — Marshall Fine