Stuff and Things

It has been said that you can often judge a person's inner state not by their words, but their actions. If this is indeed true, then it would seem fair to say that John Cassavetes, when making this film, had obviously grown tired of being a marquee studio actor, felt constrained by the Hollywood process and felt the need to express himself in the most unhinged way imaginable. The result is this film.  To say that this film bucks traditional convention would be like saying breaking your femur bone stings a little. This film goes so far outside the box in what we, the average audiences of the western world, are used to seeing that you could argue it's barely a film at all. Yes, there are actors. Yes, there are cameras rolling and lights and microphones, but that is about where the comparison to the art form we all know and love ends.  The plot, if you can call it that, revolves around three middle-aged friends - played by Cassavetes, Peter Falk (of Columbo fame) and Ben Gazzara ...

On the quiet, Richard Linklater has carved out a deeply impressive directorial career over the years. From his breakout hit 'Dazed & Confused' (1993) to the 12 year odyssey (and Academy Awards darling) 'Boyhood' (2013), he has not only brought a completely original style to cinema but is probably one of the few auteurs birthed in the 90s independent film movement who manages to have written and directed a wide, varied, cannon of work.   To further illustrate this point, after the success of 'Dazed & Confused' - one of the great high-school, teen, stoner ensemble films of all time - he took an instant about turn and made an understated romantic drama featuring two people talking for an hour and forty minutes. In other hands, this concept might have been insufferable. In the capable hands of Linklater, it is anything but.  It sounds hard to believe here in 2026, but there used to be a time when a lot of films were, gulp, dialogue-driven and, double-gulp, a...