Mubi Monday: A Woman Under The Influence (1974)

If you haven't yet made any progress through the filmography of John Cassavetes then I urge you to do so at the earliest opportunity. I can say this with confidence now, having finally checked out at least three or four of his movies throughout the last year. Yes, I was slow to get there, but that won't stop me acting all smug and knowledgeable now. 

The presumptuous part of me suspects that I have already now seen the very best from the filmography of Cassavetes, because this is truly an astonishing piece of work, but I shouldn't be too hasty, considering I previously had the same thought after watching the brilliant The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie. This will definitely be a tough one to beat though.

"What's it all about?" I pretend to hear you ask. Gena Rowlands plays Mabel, a housewife and mother who seems to have some mental health problems that put a strain on her marriage to Nick (Peter Falk). Alcohol being added to the situation can create a bigger problem, but the temptation is hard to resist when Nick ends up forced into working some extra-long shifts that keep him away from home for a full night on top of his standard hours.

Written and directed by Cassavetes (originally conceived as a play until Rowlands, his wife, stated that it would be too difficult to play out night after night), this is a seemingly slight film that gradually leads viewers into deeper and deeper waters. The lengthy runtime allows for viewers to observe the leads in a variety of situations, whether showing how much they love one another or showing how much harm they can cause one another. Leave these two people alone, unbothered by any other life obligations, and all might appear to be blissful for a while, but that isn’t the life they have. There are young children to consider, and friends and family members who can sour the atmosphere with their criticism and judgement.

Rowlands and Falk are both flawless here, delivering natural and exposed performances that show them at their ugliest, as well as occasionally at their loveliest. Responding brilliantly to the methods used by Cassavetes to keep things feeling as honest and real as possible (spontaneous decisions on character details, not telling everyone when the cameras were rolling, etc), Rowlands and Falk give the kind of acting masterclass that makes you re-appraise almost every other film performance that you viewed as being great. Everyone else onscreen does just fine, but the film stays focused on our leads at all times, and rightly so. It is heart-breaking to feel a growing affection for Rowlands, but watch her erratic behaviour worsen and cause problems. Falk, on the other hand, is someone you have to work hard to view sympathetically, especially during the times when he is violent or just blinkered to the real help his wife needs.

Not an easy viewing experience, and with no easy answers made available, this is an effective and devastating look at how much worse things can get when mental health issues are not properly treated. While there is very rarely any kind of miraculous solution, it’s painful to watch someone struggle so much without any genuine support or decent coping mechanisms. Viewers should feel anger as gaslighting and controlling behaviour often stand in place of any real attempts to help a woman clearly moving closer towards a place where the lighting is low and it would be all too easy to choose the wrong exit. 

This should be shown in every film study course, and I am not entirely against the idea of it being shown to every couple about to get married. The more extreme moments only seem that way to people who have been fortunate enough to maintain their mental equilibrium throughout their entire life. Everyone else will recognise bits and pieces from this, and it’s the truth at the heart of it all (both in content and the performances), that makes it devastating and essential.

10/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

Mubi Monday: Lonely Are The Brave (1962)

I am sure that it has happened before, but I am very much aware of the fact that when I stumble across a great film like this one, and it IS great, film fans reading my review may well end up rolling their eyes and muttering "well . . . duh." But here I go anyway.

Kirk Douglas is John W. "Jack" Burns, a cowboy in a world in which very few cowboys are left. We first see him sorting out his horse as an airplane flies overhead, a jarring juxtaposition of two very different worlds. Jack is a tough, independent guy, and when he hears that an old friend has been placed in prison he gets himself put in there alongside him, ready to plan an escape. The friend, however, doesn't want to spend his life on the run. Jack doesn't mind though. He'll keep moving anyway.

Directed by David Miller, Lonely Are The Brave is an adaptation of an Edward Abbey novel brought to the screen by Dalton Trumbo. While I am not familiar with Miller, his work behind the camera here is pretty spot on, and he's able to make the most of the superb script and winning performance from Douglas. This isn't necessarily saying that the world still needs men like Douglas in it, but it does question why so many feel threatened by him, and what he represents, and it shows how much more there is to the man than just a figure on a horse.

As the man hanging on to a "lost" way of life, Douglas is at his very best here. He's tough, charming, frustratingly obstinate, and believable. These qualities frustrate Jerry Bondi (Gena Rowlands), aggravate Deputy Sheriff Gutierrez (George Kennedy) when Jack is residing in his prison, intrigues Sheriff Morey Johnson (Walter Matthau) when Jack is attempting to evade capture, and makes him a very memorable character to spend time with. And all of those other people I have just mentioned give equally great performances, in different ways. Rowlands has an air of worry and slight exasperation about her, Kennedy is a sonofabitch, and Matthau gives yet another one of his weary and pragmatic turns.

One of many films to show a fading American dream, Lonely Are The Brave stands out because of how it makes use of the archetypal cowboy figure. That's interesting enough, yet it's even more interesting to view this nowadays and see how much it feels like a template for a certain other movie about someone strong and self-sufficient returning to a small town and butting heads with authority figures. Yes, I'd happily suggest that First Blood owes more than a small debt to this, and maybe it was in the back of David Morrell's mind as he worked on the novel that would be released a decade after this movie.

There are just one or two minor omissions here that hold it back from being perfect, a step from the middle section to the third act that leaves it feeling a bit less strongly structured as it could be, but I could easily see myself bumping this score up in the future. Part of me wants to rewatch it already, and I just finished it less than an hour ago.

9/10

I'm not even going to link to a poor disc copy here. This NEEDS better treatment.