Product: Shadows [VHS] (1959)
Rating: 2.0
Stone age independent cinema
They say Cassavettes opened the door for the independent film movement with Shadows, and that is probably why any importance is still attached to this film - that and the fact that Cassavettes had a long and important career after this.This movie is a true 'beat' movie: sparse jazz soundrack, late 50s/early 60s cool. This had been done before and with much better results: Shadows was made in 1959, same year as Jean Luc-Godard's BREATHLESS, also a 'beat' film which has been credited for heralding in the French New Wave Movement of the early 60s. Before that in 1957, French director Louis Malle did ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS, Miles Davis doing the soundtrack. Either of these movies is better than "Shadows". What gave Shadows distinction is that Cassavetes seemed to have applied the concept of jazz music (improvisation) to the movie. What an idea! Characters going through a scene without a script (mostly), just playing the dialogue as they felt it. I probably don't need to tell anyone who has made it all the way through this movie - the idea sounds better on paper.With actors just kind of 'wingin it' all over the place, doing to film what jazz musicians were doing to music (TRYING TO at least), the bare-bones story line is about the only thing keeping this flick together: light skinned woman with black brothers brings white boyfriend home. He doesn't react correctly and is 'thrown' out of the house. Other brothers include singer and manager, and Benny who spends time trying to pick up chicks with his friends and gets beat up in the end.With this film, we learn that 'expirimental' doesn't necessarily translate to 'enjoyable'. The characters in the film aren't that likeable, scenes and character relationships aren't that believable, the editing work looks like that of a high school film student and the acting is like improv high school drama class taken out into different locations in the city. No wonder this film heartened other film makers. They were thinking - if he can do THIS, anyone can make a movie! And they were right.Interviews with Lelia Goldini, the main actress, and associate producer, Seymour Cassei, shed some light on the times and what Cassavetes was trying to do.