Sunday, September 03, 2006

Criterion Masterpieces.6


Faces. The ones we put on for loved ones, for business associates, for friends, to impress, to hide ourselves behind, the ugly ones, maybe the real ones.
The actors in Faces are exploring their characters from the inside out using improvised type methods (but writer/director Cassavetes created and adhered to real scripts prior to filming).
Faces is a raw experimental film where actors are allowed to be both natural and ...well method actors. Some moments work so well, you wonder why these heights aren't regularly strived for... but then some moments don't work at all and you realize, this is film-making without a net. It's risky, it's not pretty, and it's messy - - For the performers particularly
It's a masterpiece, though like many of J.C.'s film difficult to watch. You might be annoyed, bored, bothered, and/or disgusted by the film. At the end you might not quite understand what it all was about.

But, you'll remember it

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