A Constant Forge Page #19

He said, "Let's sell a piano or something. "

I said, "What do we want?"

And he said, "I want the fire department

to come over and have rain. "

He said, "If there ever is a scene

that should have rain...

it's that scene. "

So we figured out any way

we could do it...

and that wejust didn't have

the funds for it.

And the next day we went in,

and it rained.

It actually rained.

Just that day. Then it went away

for the rest of the summer.

And something spooky is happening

when that happens.

It was just the right kind of rain too,

just that real gloomy kind of-

It was wonderful.

When you have that kind

of energy and that kind oflove...

and that kind ofhonesty

and faith going on...

you don't have to believe in magic -

it just happens.

Hey, you hear that?

You don't believe in miracles?

That's Swan Lake.

That's perfect.

That's perfect!

- Hey, kids.

- He believed in miracles.

You know who his favorite director was?

Frank Capra. He believed in miracles.

Come on, guys. We'll be the chorus.

Come on. You take Tony's hand.

Here. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Tony. Come on.

We'll go around this way,

and we'll be the chorus for 'em.

That's why I loved him.

He really never gave up on people.

Films have been miracles in my life.

Gena has been a miracle.

My children have been miracles.

Finding tears coming into my eyes

during stupid conversations is a miracle.

And after so much of my life

has been difficult and repellent...

I find that still being able to love

is a miracle.

Bravo! Come on!

They just died for you. Come on.

I'm so sorry.

Do we emasculate you?

Poor little boy losing his virility.

Well, I don't have it anymore!

- What happened to it, huh?

- I just don't appeal to you.

Oh, you appeal to me all right.

When I come home,

you appeal to me.

- When I'm at the office, you appeal to me.

- I am not a sex machine!

- No, you want to go to the movies!

- Because I'm bored.

That's how you get your jollies!

- Don't be crude!

- Crude, schmude. I'm crude!

- The minute you get home, you wanna jump into bed.

- That's the general idea.

His films are very offensive

in the best sense of the word.

They shake up our assumptions,

our complacency.

I cannot, after watching

a film like Faces-

really engaged in the film -

go back to life normally and say...

"Oh, people are basically happy.

Women are basically fulfilled

as wives and mothers. Suburbia's good. "

- Normal conversation.

- What normal conversation?

- Stay out of this.

- I will not.

- Normal talk. Conversation. Weather.

- Let her tell jokes. She's good.

- "How are you?" "Where you been?" "Hello. "

- Let her tell stories.

When I saw Woman Under the Influence...

I, at one point, remembered

that I was identifying so much...

with Mabel that I had pains

in my stomach.

It's like I was having

a physical empathy with her...

because his cinematic technique

was so raw.

It was one that so engaged me

inside the frame...

that I didn't have

the traditional distance...

that other films give me.

Dad -

That performance

in that movie was the only time...

when I wanted to be

out of the room.

I was embarrassed for this woman, and kind

of rooting for her to get her sh*t together.

And then, when she'd go off,

you'd just say, "Oh, my God. "

You know, "I hope this scene ends soon,

because this is so embarrassing...

and I want to get out of here. "

Now, that's also something that I think

that audiences aren't used to.

And -And that amount of involvement,

where you don't know where it's gonna go...

is a little upsetting

to a lot of audiences.

Will you please stand up for me?

Mabel, I don't, uh,

know what you want me to do.

Honey, I - I don't understand this game.

Will you just stand up for me?

People are very, very naked.

John Cassavetes doesn't

give 'em a break...

and there's nowhere

for them to evade anymore.

Don't you understand

what she's trying to tell us?

Theyjust have to stand and deliver.

And they don't necessarily

have anything glib to say.

- Sit down.

- Oh, Geor-

- Sit down. Sit down.

- Oh.

He's asking us to look

at the deeper levels of need...

frustration, anxiety...

and how hard it is

to articulate these things...

'cause we're scared

of alienating the people closest to us.

Cassavetes was not scared of that...

in terms of relationship

of film to viewer...

in terms of the way

he dealt with others.

That's what was always

brave about his movies...

and brave about his actors.

Okay, let's break it up.

That's more like it.

How you been?

I'm fine. Uh, Tony Russell,

this is my brother, Hugh.

- Hi.

- And this is Rupert Crosse.

Glad to know you.

John was about breaking patterns...

about pushing people

out of their places of comfort...

about dislodging our sophistications

throughout his work.

The most radical way

he does it is for the viewer.

I have an appointment.

I have to go.

So that every time

the viewer gets a little comfortable...

every time the viewer

starts to sit back and say...

"Oh, okay. Been there. Done this.

I understand this narrative.

I understand this character"...

John will open the trapdoor.

If you look at the shooting script

for Woman Under the Influence...

John had some other moments

in the film that he cut out...

that were actually softer

and a little more consoling.

There was a scene

in Woman Under the Influence...

that wasn't in the picture...

where what we used to do when

we wanted to have fun together...

we used to tell each other

our dreams.

And, uh, I remember the dream that I told -

This was a dream

thatJohn actually had.

He was, uh, in the sky...

and he was flying

on the New York News-

the newspaper.

And he was going up high in the clouds

and coming down...

and he was on his way to Europe.

I don't know what the hell

the dream was.

But, I mean, it was fun

to talk about it.

And then she had a dream.

So, Nick, at times, alone with Mabel...

showed a side ofhimself

that he wouldn't show...

to his mother or the guys

that he worked with.

There's another moment

where they walk in the rain together...

sort of arm-in-arm,

and they talk and chat.

For every viewer who ever wanted

to storm out of Woman Under the Influence...

because it's too demanding,

it's too painful...

it's just too excruciating...

John could have left

those scenes in...

but, in fact, he said no.

To have romance

was another kind of evasion.

The common criticism

ofJohn was that the films...

were not structured,

that they seemed - that they seemed loose...

that they seemed repetitive,

that they seemed to ramble...

and that they had great things in them,

but that they seemed excessive...

in terms oflength

and the duration of certain scenes.

And the lack of a plot line.

Will you get out ofhere.

I felt that there was

some merit to that criticism...

when I saw something

like Husbands.

Listen to this. You're gonna hear

something beautiful.

And you listen too, and you'll find out

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