Kevin
Smock
26
January 2014
John
Cassavetes is credited as the first independent filmmaker but above that title
he is also one of the first American filmmakers to neglect filmic convention
and narrative formulas on purpose. Upon watching a few of his films, it is
clear to see what he is interested in exploring: Human relationships on a level
of stark realism that most filmmakers wouldn’t dare to delve into, or be able
to achieve. One of the most admirable things about Cassavetes is the fact that
he breaks all these rules, rules that audiences have adapted to consciously or
subconsciously, yet he’s still able to portray ideas with great clarity. Even
though he has set out to do away with such accepted principles, his fourth film
released in 1968, titled Faces, while
clearly unassimilated with the mainstream, employs a number of great tactics
while still holding true to his intended realist style. Whether these are
decisions Cassavetes had thought out or they’re just apart of his intuitive
workflow, they really stuck out and made for a great viewing experience.
Unlike
some of other Cassavetes films, it was possible to identify plot points
throughout Faces. The story concerns
a troubled relationship between Richard and his wife Maria; they’re a middle-aged couple living in L.A. during the 60s.
We know right off the bat that they don’t have a stable relationship because
the first time we see them together the scene that precedes it is of Richard
and his friend at a high-class prostitute’s home, Jeannie. The moments of
Richard and Maria talking are hardly ever serious: they joke, they laugh,
they’re sarcastic, they smoke, they drink, etc. In true Cassavetes fashion,
once the laughing and the dancing is over, things get serious. Throughout the
long, sporadic conversation between Richard and Maria they hit sort of a rough
patch. They part ways for a moment and Richard goes off to play pool. During
this time, we witness a moment of subjectivity on Richard’s end, where he’s
reflecting on past times with Jeannie when they’re in bed making jokes
together. He walks away from the billiards table and approaches Maria who is
mixing drinks into two cups. Richard interrupts this event by requesting a
divorce. The performances during this scene are spot on, so true to life that
it can be scary. This is where ACT II begins and it is signaled by a
shot that will serve as a motif and occur again. Initially serving up two
drinks, upon the divorce request Maria spitefully dumps out the contents of one
of the cups, signaling a sense of disunity among the couple.
The
first half of the second act is where, among others things, Richard and Jeannie’s
relationship buds. Richard interrupts an encounter between Jeannie and her
co-worker, Stella, and two men. Throughout this long, wild scene, Richard
proves to be a gentleman who really does have feelings for Jeannie when he is
with her. We never really see this side of Richard unless he is with the young Jeannie.
The midpoint of the film occurs when Richard
is preparing to spend the night at Jeannie’s / when Maria goes out to a club
full of young people with her friends. At this point, Richard has reached a new
point emotionally and now the narrative sets its sights on Maria. Her and her
friends go out to a nightclub where they meet a young man who they bring back
to Maria’s house. All the older women drool over this younger man because they
make them feel young again. As the night draws to an interesting end, the young
man and Maria end up spending the night together and they have sex.
The climax occurs the morning after Maria
and the young man’s affair. Feeling so miserable about herself, Maria attempts
to kill herself by overdosing on sleeping pills. However, the young man ends up
saving her life and nursing her back to health. Meanwhile, Richard is enjoying
his morning with his beloved Jeannie. He mixes a drink for the two of them,
which mirrors the shot that sends the film into Act II. This time though, the
motif has developed into expressing a sense of unity between Richard and Jeannie,
completely opposing the first time it was used with Richard and Maria, which
suggests the separation of the couple.
While
Maria recovers on the couch, she converses with the young man who has saved her
life. In the middle of this, Richard arrives back home only to spot the young
man escaping out the window.
The film’s raw resolution is the fact that
Richard and Maria, after experiencing such intimacy with these other people,
are going to fall back into their unhealthy relationship and continue to live
that way. This is even communicated visually: Richard sits on the bottom of the
steps and smokes while Maria sits at the top of the steps and smokes. They’re
seated in nearly the exact same way and back to back shots of them coughing up
a lung is shown to us. This signals their synchronization back into their
confusing relationship.
Thematically, this film covers a lot of ground. As
always, Cassavetes confronts subjects such as love, true confusing love that
real people experience every single day. Another one of Cassavetes’s favorite
topics is relationships, whether it is among spouses, friends, or strangers. What
I find to be most pertinent in this film though is people escaping from their
everyday realities, which in the end are inescapable. There are many instances
throughout the film that show older people (around an appropriate mid-life
crisis age) forgetting about their troubles and rejuvenating themselves in the
presence of a younger person. Both Richard and Maria spend time with younger
people of the opposite sex, and we see them cut loose in a way that they never
show to any other character in the film. The strongest scene, shot in tight
close ups, that embodies this theme is when Maria’s oldest friend is highly
intoxicated and vents to her about that fact that she will one day die and a
preacher will preach over her body to a room full of spectators. This morbid
conversation comes to an abrupt end when the young man re-enters the room. Shown
in a wide shot, the older lady runs to Jim and entirely dismisses what she was
just discussing with Maria.
.png)
An
instance like this occurs much earlier in the film when Richard and his friend
are first seen with Jeannie. The good times they’re having cause them to reflect
back on their college days when they didn’t have any worries.
.png)
The
editing in this film is comparative to no other movie in America during the
1960s. Cassavetes intentionally disobeys the 180-degree rule, cares little for
spatial relationships, and lets eye-lines wander wherever they desire. The
interesting thing about this renegade filmmaking is that it perfectly
complements the chaotic mentality of the characters in the film. Aside from his
editing style, which Cassavetes was well aware he was doing, I found a few
particular edits that I’m reluctant to discuss only because I think Cassavetes
cared very little for edits such as the ones I’m about to discuss and I can’t
confidently say that these are motivated choices by the director. Nonetheless
though, I noticed them and believe that they are extremely relevant to the
content and complement the story at hand.
The
midpoint of the film (discussed earlier in this essay) shows Richard settling
in with Jeannie in an incredibly tranquil and intimate environment -vs- Maria
and her friends entering the hectic nightclub where they appear out of place.
This juxtaposition is exploited via the cutting and the sound design. The slow,
romantic music of the bedroom -vs- the rapid, thumping of the nightclub music.
-VS-
The
climax of the film (discussed earlier in this essay) shows Richard’s lovely
morning with Jeannie -vs- Maria’s half-dead regretful morning with the young
man. Again, it’s the pure juxtaposition of these two moments that create the
effect of shock and show the opposition between the Richard and Maria.
-VS-
The
character parallels between Richard and Maria further strengthen the structure
of the film. For instance, they both go out to a club and meet a younger person
they spend special time with. Also, while each character is in the club we’re
shown an optical point of view from each of them. If my memory serves me
correctly, this is the only time we’re given optical subjectivity.
Faces is a wonderful piece of film that
I greatly admire. Watching a John Cassavetes film is always a unique experience
and one never knows what to expect, a great alternative to many Hollywood films
that follow a strict paradigmatic structure and are slaves to continuity
cutting. Cassavetes will be remembered as the first American independent
filmmaker as well as the first American rule breaker.
No comments:
Post a Comment