Opening Night


1977 dramedy

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A theater production tries to overcome the breakdown of its lead. 

More films with Gena Rowlands characters losing their minds please. I'm not sure if her work here is better than what she did in Woman under the Influence, but the degree of difficulty is definitely more impressive. This is tricky character building, and while a lot of it is pulled off with camera placement, a few times with the camera focus, and a couple of other tricks, most of the heavy lifting is Rowlands herself doing Rowlands things. 

Once again, Cassavetes is making a film about the roles we have to play, sometimes the ones we are forced to "play the shit out of." I'm not sure if "just say the lines and feel nothing" is solid advice philosophically, but it can help a person get by, I suppose. 

I'm really upset at myself for getting behind with this blog again. I watched this a couple of weeks ago now and my notes are illegible. I have "Z Plain" written at the top of the paper and have no idea what that means. I also have something about the "swagger of black cowboy with eye patch," but I think I might have been inebriated or on hallucinogenics. Is there a black cowboy with an eye patch in this movie? 

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