Doesn't seem as cohesive as his best films, but as usual there's some absolutely amazing material here. The singing contest is one of my favorite scenes in film; Cassavetes was a master of making you feel ten things at once.

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# 639

Cassavetes, Falk, AND Gazzara!

I wish I could see the 4 hour cut with all the footage, I could watch Cass, Falk and Gazzara forever.

Another Cassavetes film very much in the same vein as A Woman Under the Influence and Faces, as people vacillate between maintaining some kind of front and struggling to articulate their true feelings, plagued by moments of doubt followed by moments of resolve and then moments of regret. Although I don't think this one is quite as genuine as the other two films (for reasons I can't quite put my finger on), there are some wonderful insights. The three principals are, of course, dynamite.

Boundlessly charismatic / insightful / spontaneous / entertaining.

Cassavetes walks the line between drama and comedy in this discourse on suburban repression. The entire film manages to authentically project so many feelings, from frustration to ecstasy, but it is ultimately bleak. The three leads are outstanding, their rambling nature giving the film a veritable tone.

Husbands is about exactly the sort of guys that completely infest most of Cassavetes' filmography: Loud-mouthed, abusive, drunken oafs, who are actually in the throes of midlife crises, castrated by family life and suffocated by their jobs. Their regression to childishness is a hopeless struggle to escape from the dreary fate of growing old as average husbands. What sets Husbands apart is that in no other film is this idea focused on and told as poignantly and deftly.

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