A Woman Under The Influence (1974) DVD / a John Cassavetes film; starring Peter Falk & Gena Rowlands

Mentally speaking, Mabel Longhetti isn't all there. And it's not that hard to tell. Though coherent enough to hover around the lives of her husband Nick and their three small children, there's simply no question that the woman's off kilter. Nick doesn't want to hear that his wife's crazy. He'd like to pretend there's nothing wrong and wants to prove to himself and others that his wife's alright, going so far as to invite his co-workers over for supper where Mabel's abnormalities promptly dissolve any argument about her condition. It's not just her communication patterns which inevitably devolve into an enigmatic series of hisses and grunts when she can't express herself. It's her terrifying lack of personal boundaries. Evidenced on a routine basis and ranging from shamelessly hailing pedestrians from the middle of a busy street to casually picking up strangers at a local bar for a one-nighter, she's consistently detached from reality, behaving on a different plain of judgement and discretion from everyone around her.

When her actions incite a neighbor to press charges following an afternoon in which the man observes her unsteady manner around his children, Mabel is ultimately confronted by two individuals unwilling to forebear anymore of her distressing antics--Nick's mother and a family physician. She doesn't go quietly. But when she is finally committed for psychiatric treatment, Nick takes it hard. His work relationships suffer as he comes to grips with the state of his family. His children, having existed very much in the middle of it all (literally so on many occasions), try to adjust to a life almost as frightening and unpredictable as the one they had before. Mabel's internment isn't a permanent one however and after a six-month long period under observation, she's released under tentative guidelines. The night of her return, a big party is thrown with family and guests all ready to welcome her home. It's a bit awkward but they make the effort, hoping to confront a rehabilitated Mabel.

John Cassavetes broke all the rules. Maybe the most auteur director of the American film industry's independent movement, a feat setting him on par with many international New Wave-ists, Cassavetes' movies weren't always the most popular nor the most well-received. In America during the 1960's and 70's, they were rarely box office hits and never debuted to large audiences. He was deemed a director who enabled his actors with too much leverage and his unfashionable, formless cinematic style seemed too unkempt for filmgoers. But today seen in retrospect, Cassavetes is a legendary figure, the Godard/Bergman/Antonioni of America. Critic Kent Jones in his essay "The War At Home" went so far as to say that "A whole generation of critics misunderstood Cassavetes so spectacularly that the ones who are still around are probably too embarassed to take a second look." (Jones). With his hyperrealistic mode of communicating themes and ideas, Cassavetes represented a sort of déclassé America, a place where the vagaries of everyday life are as frightening as the nightly news and then some. And indeed there are a great many uncomfortable situations in this movie which not only bury any semblance of theatrical dramatics but eerily evoke the personal tragedy of everyday life. Cast in 'A Woman' are Gena Rowlands (Cassavetes wife) and Peter Falk (aka Colombo), the acting duo who not only starred in nearly all of Cassavetes' crucial films but helped fund the picture itself--Cassavetes was the epitome of an indie filmmaker, funding most of his movies from his own pocket and relying on non-union labor for production teams. Both leads are terrific, each nominated for Oscars, but it may be the supporting role of Katherine Longhetti, Nick's live-in mom played by Cassavetes own mother, who pinpoints the crux of the problem and stealthily steals a few of the more noteworthy scenes. Keenly observing the maelstrom of a marriage between Nick and Mabel, Katherine is the viewer's actor on screen ("that woman is cra-zy!!!"), eviscerating the deeply disturbing behavioral irregularities of both husband and wife. It's brilliant, not to be missed. (DVD WOMAN)

POV At A Glance

POV Films is a unique showcase for independent documentary cinema. POV premieres 14-16 of the best, boldest and most innovative programs every year (over 300 since the mid-eighties) on PBS and archives many of their most successful on the website. Known for their intimacy and timeliness, POV puts a face on contemporary social issues and continues to lead the way with groundbreaking filmmaking. The link to their archival selection is here.

The Film Club / by David Gilmour

What if you could get away with skipping school in order to watch movies all day? One kid did. It's essentially the deal author David Gilmour made with his teenage son Jesse. No longer seeing the purpose of an education, the youth had let it be known at the beginning of the 10th grade that he was planning to quit school after his sixteenth birthday. Gilmour allowed his son to get his wish (and be allowed to live at home) under the following condition: that he, Jesse, promise to watch three movies a week with his father. Beginning "the film club"--the tag denoting the duo's nightly sessions in the basement--with Truffaut's The 400 Blows, Gilmour and son ran the gamet of from classic cinema like Roman Holiday to popular movies (Basic Instinct) and everywhere in between. There were no lectures preceding or following viewing any of the films, no tests on the finer points of cinematic art: just a father and son watching movies together. Gilmour, a former film critic and current TV host in Canada, orchestrates one of the more extreme (or maybe not so extreme as all that though at least original) child-rearing experiments in recent memory. Apparently the little parenting gamble worked, at least to some degree: Jesse began attending college-level courses after getting his GED equivalent. (B GILMOUR)

Chainsaws, Slackers and Spy Kids: 30 Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas / by Alison Macon

Culturally, Austin seems to have it all. The Live Music Capital of the World filled to the brim with nightlife, it also boasts a top notch drama and performing arts community, a reputable visual arts sector, numerous literary competitions, annual international festivals, eclectic cuisine and an abundance of regional and independent news sources tapped into all things cultural. So it's no surprise to find that Austin's already thriving independent film scene has, over the last few decades, steadily emerged into a full-fledged motion picture industry. Now more than ever, and in no small part owing to the far-reaching popularity of the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, the city has become (unofficially) the "third coast" movie capital of the United States.
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When Tobe Hooper's low-budget horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre burst through to the mainstream in the 1970's, it was only the beginning as the city's progressive film atmosphere began to attract wannabe filmmakers from all over, soon gaining ground as one of the treasured enclave's of independent film. It didn't hurt that the University of Texas Radio-TV-Film program was already one of the best in the country, only to grow in size and become more diversified in the following years. By the 1990's, Austin achieved legitimate notoriety as an unique landmark independent filmmaking trail. Breakthrough directors Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez and Mike Judge proved that local and sub-regionally produced films such as Slacker, Dazed and Confused, El Mariachi and Office Space could make noise at the national level at the same time that homegrown talented actors like Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger made splashes in Hollywood.  
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Lifelong resident and tenured UT film professor Macon chronicles the rise of the Austin's film community through its early days in the 1970's on to its Generation X-charged atmosphere in the late 1980's and early 90's and finally relates how the city has become a major venue for twenty-first century Hollywood blockbusters like Spy Kids. While Austin continues to perpetuate its open-ended, democratic approach to the movie business, Macon hints that their may be a downside to the city's ever-expanding status as a movie and entertainment mecca, namely that rising production costs could mean limited opportunities for local filmmakers as the city opens its arms to industry financiers with bigger pockets. More on the Austin movie scene can be observed at websites like the Austin Film Society's well-informed take on all the cinematic goings-on around the city. (791.4309764 MACOR)

Muriel's Wedding (DVD) 1994 / w/ Tony Collette & Rachel Griffiths

"You're terrible, Muriel."

Muriel Hislop likes life . . . even if the favor's not exactly returned. Just out of school, she's two things a girl's not supposed to be: un-hip and unattractive. She’s also unintelligent, untalented and irresponsible but that's not enough to interfere with her ambitious fantasy-life of wanting--more than anything--to be a bride. Grabbing out at ‘friends’, fashion, and good times in an aimless effort to corral her desire, Muriel finds that her intentions, genuine as they may be, just aren't lining up with her disco-ey montage of a white wedding. Neither do they line up with other people's expectations as her antics prompt some abrupt (and vivid) recoils among family and peers. Left alone but still intent on her desire, Muriel embarks on her next best option: she agrees to marry a foreigner seeking citizenship.

This movie is comedy but it still captures a lucid realism following Muriel--a bit dim but no pretender--in her search for fulfillment, ultimately realizing that life's zest isn't always about where (or how) you look. Even juxtaposed events like her mother's suicide tend to clarify her world of emotional isolation and deferred enthusiasm. Priceless comic relief is never far off though; Muriel's impeccably satirized queen bee counterparts, all hopelessly into themselves and out of touch with reality, filling the gaps where necessary. Juggling both humor and drama doesn't always work, but exceptions like this almost credit the failures for trying. "Toni Collette doesn't play Muriel as much as she inhabits the role"*; realizing the offbeat heroine with enough authenticity to flesh out, not just a character, but an entire persona. Throw in Rachel Griffiths performance as the bosom buddy, and you have two Oscar nominees in a film which wasted no time adopting cult status.

*Schneider, Steven Jay., ed. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Hapuppauge: Barron's, 2005. p. 247.