Shadows

1959 supposedly improvised drama

Rating: 12/20

Plot: A guy of indeterminate race wears his sunglasses at night. He has a sister of indeterminate race and an African American soul-singin' brother who is struggling with his career because he either doesn't sing songs fast enough or sings them too fast. The sister falls for a white guy who is very obviously a square. Then all the characters sort of walk around and sometimes dance.

This has that near-documentary look that lends this some realism. It didn't seem improvised to me at all though; instead, it just seemed poorly acted and sort of dully written. It's an interesting passing glance at race relations during a very specific time in New York City, but as a film, it feels really incomplete and sketchy, more of an experiment (it was Cassavetes' debut) than a complete realized work of art. There is one truly great scene and one nearly great scene, but the rest of this unfortunately clunks instead of glides. At around an hour and a half, this actually managed to oddly seem longer than Faces.

Me, a black Native American: