Like it or not?


Who out there has some insight on why this is a good or bad movie? I just watched it and liked it but can't really explain to myself why. Why'll I try to figure that out, what do you all think?

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I just saw it for the first time. I can't really say that I like it (I guess my personal taste in movies leans more towards the conventional), but I can say that I appreciate it as a good film. It's definitely unlike anything I've ever seen. A lot of the user comments remarked upon how it was like eavesdropping on ordinary people going through the ordinary motions of their day-to-day lives, and that's right on the mark. What you feel is that these are real people going through real-life situations and that this is the way real people act.

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The first hour seemed to be all over the place. I would sometimes think to myself what was going on. The end of a particular scene was when I would begin to understand the story and the characters. I was very much into the film the rest of the way. It was an interesting film that needs a second viewing from me in a few months or a year. The performances of Gena Rowlands and Lynn Carlin were fantastic. Shot very documentary-like, Faces was good but I need to watch it again to fully grasp this film.

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."

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One of the best films ever.
Loved Val Avery and John Marley is just astonishing.

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i wish i could say something that hasn't been said, but again, one of the best and most important films ever

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just watched it for the first. Had seen Killing Chinese Bookie, Shadows, Minnie and Moskowitz, et. al. This movie came with the box set and I watched it last. AMazing. Captures lives like nothing I've ever seen. It's like a find, a moment in my life where something I've just encountered will for now always be a part of who I am. Well, cut me a break, I'm a cinephile. But how amazing is the myriad of shifts in these people's lives. How much truer can it go from there. Like a mad scientist had corralled these actors and under some strange way cast a glammer over them to where they are hypnotized or schizoided into becoming real people on film. Actors act. I don't know what these people are doing, but it made me uncomfortable at times to be watching it. Truly a beautiful find. I'm deliriously happy tonite. Can ya tell?

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I thought it was pretty good, not as good as Woman Under The Influence, but still very good.

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woah, really?? I had seen a restored 35 mm version of Faces at the Chicago International film fest a few months ago, and I was completely blown away
and then I just rented a woman under the influence, and I was a little less than pleased, I mean, it wasn't bad
it just didn't come anywhere close to faces. just my opinion.

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Utterly fantastic. One of my all time favorite films. Definitely in my top ten.
Cassavetes creates a world inhabited by people so real and so gritty that, even though the film is incredibly unpleasent in almost every way, we can't stop watching it.

I mean, subjact matter aside even, the film was shot on 16mm, they pretty much just opened the aperture so they could capture everything from every angle possible(causing gross over exposure and saturation). Little to no attention was paid to photography, and the cinematography was definitely less than remarkable.

And yet, it remains one of the most powerful, moving and breathtakingly bold charactar studies ever created.

Not to mention the fact that John Cassavetes basically gave birth to Independent Filmmaking with this picture. Nearly everything that went into this film came from his own pocket, and when nobody would distribute it, he created his own distribution company and distributed it on his own.

Anyway, all of this has been said before. Bottom line: it's a brilliant film in a long line of brilliant films from a ground-breaking, one of a kind genius filmmaker.

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I wish i could have filmed my face when i first viewed this film. I was having cinefile hot flashes. I wish every time i watched this film, it felt to me the same way it felt the first time (creepy huh).

I felt like i had been thrown into a furnace or a boiler, also one of the best written films ever. The dialogue is cracking.

A very powerful film about a man and a woman who are thrown into worlds they dont understand. From a long marriage to a thorny, prickly landscape of casual sex, where every one tries to hurt each other.

The men control their affairs with business status and attempt to validate them selves and their power and status quo at the prostitutes house.

"I bet you're a real murderer behind that big desk of yours"

The women doubt themselves and nitpick at each other as they go out, trying to feel young as they shake their fat asses at the disco's.

"Let me tell you something else funny honey.....I'm in love with my husband"

After their respective nights out - they both come home only to find the exact thing they tried to run away from.

A scathing portrait of two people out of their time, desperately trying to find comfort in their arms of others and realising that they are the best that they have.

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my first experience with cassavettes, and i enjoyed it a lot. i really dig cinema verite when it's done right, and this was an excellent example of it. an earlier poster mentioned that the first hour was "all over the place", and i have to agree to an extent. while watching it for the first time, i almost became frustrated with the lack of narrative direction early on, but the characters soon started becoming fully realized and the narrative took care of itself. the ending shots left me speechless for some time afterwards. i think everyone can relate to this film on a deep level, unless you're a child or someone who's never been in a relationship or marriage. all in all, an emotionally arresting film with great acting, a great script, and some excellent cinematography. i'll need to continue my foray into cassavettes as soon as i can.

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hmm... i dont know. i could go either way. for a low budget indie flick, especially made in the 60s, its a pretty radical experimental film. but as a whole, i dont know if i can take it seriously. also, im only 19, and so i have no idea what these people are going through, so i cant relate unless we're talking about the john's tennis playing son. anyway, it wasnt bad, but i dont think it should get all the acclaim it has gotten.

B-

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