Opening Night

Cassavettes approach to the material is typically raw and unpolished, letting scenes play out with few cuts and fewer embellishments. It's a choice that gives the actors room to build nuance into their roles, and makes the later scenes of mounting problems nearly unbearable in their verisimilitude. It's also a wonderful showcase for Rowlands as the rapidly deteriorating star. It's a role that's about playing roles; she invests the inner conflict with a confused ache that's all too real.

cassavetes inflates the artificial structures that constitute human identity, magnifying in turn the emotional truths upon which they're built. he is THE realist auteur precisely because he relentlessly wrestles with the fundamentally human practice of performance. moreso even than FACES this one best explains his work (right down to his oft-misunderstood aesthetic), though to me it isn't itself the most consistently alive and affecting example, maybe limited by a played out/on-the-nose premise.

Okay, this was pretty God damn good. It may not make much sense that I liked this, whereas I detested A Woman Under the Influence. I also loved L'Eclisse but had little use for L'avventura. What can I say? I'm a complicated man, much like Shaft. This is a wrenching, involving piece of filmmaking, as uncomfortable as it watchable. And the acting... oh, the acting (picture of Homer drooling). A bit on the selfindulgent side perhaps, but allowances must be made whan awesomeness is involved.

One of the best, realistic, and transformatively feminist movies ever made. Myrtle transforms a cliché and patriarchal (remember the slap and all the downgrading talk against the leading woman) story into a story of "hope" and female empowerment, asserting the Dionysiac drunkennes against the Apollonian rules of the "art" and society. Besides its realist and even pragmatist feminism, a powerful critique of art and hypocrisy, and feels strangely similar to Fassbinder.

Looking for a cohesive, solid narrative in Cassavetes' work seems foolish. This is the story an aging alcoholic actress, and the focus is more on Rowlands acting the part, rather than the narrative chugging along. Of course, Rowlands is fantastic.

Cassavetes took the setup of All About Eve and then twisted it into something ten times more interesting, which examines what it is to be a woman and age, to be a performer in a part you don't want, and the complex relationship that destruction and creation have with art. A simply astounding film. Almodovar took the ball and kept running with All About My Mother.

Somewhat more accessible but considerably less brilliant than his best works.

Provoking complex reflection is a definitive 70+ in my book. My favorite (and I reckon, selfindulgant) stand is that Myrtle's final breakdown is actually a capitulation, which she then brings on stage. Having tried to find a way to express a revelating wisdom that comes with the subject of age - which she can't find - she then retreats to all-too-familiar theater with it's charicatural grims and looks and phrases, and finds relief, along with the filmmaker himself, and along with me.

Rowlands is phenomenal as ever, and it starts off ruminating on some very interesting themes, but then kind of feels like it starts running in circles and I can’t say the plot really goes anywhere or feels relevant to the themes. Still, Cassavetes’ style always makes for an electric watch, and the climax is fun.

forsaking her inner life, her youth - crashed by a speeding car, she did not even remember how - to perfomatively stand as an actress, to stand on the road towards societal succes and finish its path. she grows older but she also has not; looking back, the stage crumbles through chapters of an alcoholic man, kids in the limelight; also a self-reflective yet isolated man; all sorts of characters, who stand as islands she navigated her ship between, never having visited any of them.

The ghost story aspect is fascinating. So is the camera placement on stage as opposed to the audience in the penultimate performance; Cassavetes knew how to get to the internal. The rest is admirable for its pacing and build-up - a build-up to the horror of a successful performance. Admirable, not enjoyable. I prefer Dario Argento's Opera, which, come to think of it, covers similar ground in a much rawer way.

Faced with a writer and director who'd prefer the masochistic obeisance of "professionalism", a frustrated, desperate cast member literally steals the show in order to give meaning to the work (or perhaps, destroys it in order to save it). Can it get any more Cassavetes than that? There are foibles--as usual there's a preponderance of water-treading, and even the most propulsive scenes seem to go on and on, so structure and pace are utterly off the table. But give me this over "Birdman" any day.

What a brilliant movie! Great, great performace by Rowlands. Loved that theatrical feeling :)

Fantastic performances. My favorite Cassavetes picture.

Rather more abstract and internalized than this filmmaker's usually literal and outward displays. It's built on the banality that art reflects life, or vice versa, but crisis of aging is just a sample of greater solipsism. How anguished, Myrtle dissociating under the pressure of peformance and the specter of perceiving oneself - on stage and off. The actor's triumph over her creative handlers seems appropriate, after all Cassavetes was the ultimate actor's director. Also hell yeah Joan Blondell!

DavidKahane's got it: 'verisimilitude.' I will parry with 'verfremdungseffekt.' fukyeh

Cassavetes has made a very realistic, well made movie about theatre. It's very slow paced. Good usage of minimal music and good camera work. Also has good performances. But ultimately I admire this film more than I enjoy it.

Cassavetes always has something of interest to say, and a few missteps aside, this takes on the mind of an actress like nothing I've ever seen. Gena Rowlands is typically perfect.

Cassavetes' style is always enjoyable, but this is mostly failure on a narrative level. The ending doesn't sum up anything about the movie, putting to waste an interesting premise. Still, a very interesting movie - I had a decent enough time watching it.

İnanılmaz bir film ya. Aklımı aldı. Tiyatro temelli filmlere zaafım var zaten. Bir de Gene Rowlands, bir kadının, insanın, oyuncunun varolma çabasını, içindeki karmaşaları, çatışmaları ve mücadelesini göstermede o kadar başarılı olmuş ki. Bütün yan karakterler de çok iyi dizayn edilmiş ve prömiyere giden yolda ve o gecede geçenlerin oluşmasında küçük küçük iyi yer etmişler. Ya Cassavetes bomba bir film bu be.

Rowlands is great, but I believe Ben Gazzara to be just about the most underrated actor of his time--he is terrific. And it's great to see Joan Blondell in a real role in this final stage of her career. Try not to be troubled by all the narrative inconsistencies/ambiguities--they ultimately don't matter much. The mystery is why all this effort is going into a play that, by all appearances, just isn't very good. It's impossible to think of the, um, "embellishments" as anything but improvements.

The parts that i liked, i liked a LOT - the subtle acting, realism, great acting by pretty much everyone. Rowlands i have to see more of, amazing! Joan Blondell is convincing and funny in every of the few scenes she's in, i really love looking at Ben Gazzara (what a pleasant face and presence). The theme is great and treated interestingly. Less fortunate is the 'ghost' part where it becomes a bit too literal for my tastes, and the thespian stuff i just don't have a taste for. Still recommended!

This film barely existed in 1977 when it was made. He struggled to get any kind of release for it and it was critically panned. It's a shame because while I wouldn't say it's my personal favourite of his, it's Rowland's best performance.

If not for a weak ending, this would have been even higher for me. Rowlands is brilliant and the rest of the cast is excellent as well. Joan Blondell is an inspired bit of casting given the overall themes of the movies about aging stardom, etc.

Turns out, I don't like John Cassavetes as a director. I hate this film, and A woman under the influence, equally.

Started a little slow but overall very powerful and poignant. The final performance is incredible.

Not much to say here except that I LOVE Cassavetes, I LOVE Gena Rowlands and I LOVE Ben Gazzara

If there is such a thing as a "perfect film" then this must be it.

makes Birdman look like Bullshit

The Cassavetes X Rowlands duo is such a gift to cinema

Serious consideration should have been given to exercising the understudy option. The drunken-but-triumphant final performance scene did not work at all for this viewer, seeming both contrived and a continuation of the half-baked theatrics evidenced in the out-of-town shows. Cassavetes just isn't my guy: he never seems quite able to bring off what he's going for, caught halfway between gritty realism and acting-as-psychodrama. There are always moments, but here there's just too much nonsense.

Rowlands is wonderful, really, but everything is way too loosey-goosey, and it is also quite detrimental that the ending is by far the weakest part of the film.

Meu, cada vez que vejo algum ator ou produtor de filme do Cassavetes dizendo que o mesmo foi um fracasso nos EUA - que literalmente público e crítica detestavam, eu fico pensando se esse povo comia cocô ou o quê. O que há aqui para não amar? Box Versátil O Cinema de John Cassavetes.

This is far and away my favorite film directed by John Cassavetes. I've been pretty lukewarm with his films in general but this one drew me in with the duality of Gena Rowlands performance. My favorite part were the stage scenes even if the ending was a bit underwhelming. Also as with most of the films I've seen by Cassavetes this one runs too long, a good 45 minutes too long.

(2nd viewing)

a story of an actress undergoing a crisis of aging. now, the experimental touches sometimes work and sometimes don't, the music is much the same, and given that this is about a woman in emotional breakdown played by gena rowlands, it's hard not to compare to the superior [a woman under the influence]. nevertheless, it is hard to deny that the ending performance of the in-film play is genuinely beautiful.

Not that funny

The frequent ambiguity between the scripted and "real" worlds is fascinating, and this film is gripping for almost its entire running length. The climax & resolution almost ruins the film for me. Although I realize the movie is at its heart about Myrtle's crisis and I'm happy she gets past it, I can't believe Cassavetes was actually comfortable presenting the insipid bullshit he & Rowlands drool out on stage as some kind of triumph.

An oddly flawed film. I think the best scenes are the ones showing the play's rehearsals and performances, which confuse what's scripted and what's improvised (within the play) -- the last play sequence is particularly nail-biting. All the other scenes in this film are serviceable, but not special. Rowlands does well portraying the psychologically wounded character (and does the best blind-drunk acting I've ever seen), though the film's analyses on her state is unsatisfying unfinished.

Movie 1600. Cassavetes' film about theater may very well be his masterpiece. More surreal than Cassavetes' previous films, Opening Night is tense and heartbreaking, with Cassavetes examining the nature of the director vs the actor, as well as the vitality of the artist in his later years. It's always great to see Gena Rowlands and Cassavetes act together and Ben Gazzara is excellent as well.

watched: 2013, 2023

"Curtain up": A successful backstage story. If Cassavetes chose the "failure" melodrama for the final, this movie probably sucks (let alone Black Swan and Perfect Blue with that cliche) . He chose the right thing and said that "the show must go on through all circumstances." Peter Bogdanovich made a cameo in the final (also Peter Falk). At the end, "Superman" did his best.

Sira disi (kimi zaman rontgenci) kamera kullanimi izleyeni bazen yorsa da, senaryolarinin alisilmis kaliplarin disinda olusu belki biraz yadirgansa da Cassavetes'i seviyorum. "Hem yuzeysel hem derin gibi, hem ruhsuz hem duygulu gibi" ciplak anlatimina hayranim. (Bunlar bir arada nasil oluyor bilmiyorum ama ben boyle hissediyorum.) Yazarligi ve yonetmenligi hic kimselere benzemeyen, apayri bi adam Cassavetes.

#854

An exceptional film; it combines a study of acting, where the actor eventually breaks the restrictions placed upon them by the 'auteur' (like Ben Gazzara's character), with a deep character drama and even supernatural horror, and does so with tremendous success. It's not surprising for a film about theatre, and from Cassavates, that the acting is fantastic, with Gena Rowlands driving the film as the central character.

Cassavetes and a bunch of other actors play a bunch of actors. The process of acting is interesting to me, but ultimately this is another Cassavetes film that meanders around for over two hours without really connecting to anything. Am I a bad movie nerd if my favorite film directed by Cassavetes is _Gloria_?

OK, the whole "ghost" device was a bit lame, but who cares when the acting is this wonderful (especially Casavettes and Rowlands). Other things I liked: the way the play parallels real life; the battle between actors and writers (directors)--and in this case the actor triumphs! the theme of a woman dealing with losing her youth and her "solution."

802

763

Painful, intense and heartbreaking. I don't know if I liked the inclusion of the embodied "young Myrtle", but this was restlessly brilliant apart from that.

# 699

This movie screams write a critical analysis of the director's use of the colour red. The play within the movie was pretty weak, but I suppose that was the point, but Gena Rowlands did the best she could, which is always pretty damn great.