One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Fantastic!

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

From director John Cassavetes (Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie), this film appeared in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I knew nothing about before finding it listed, so I was hoping it would be interesting. Basically the story is an improvised piece about interracial relationships in Manhattan, New York, specifically between three black siblings and their personal situations. Benny (Ben Carruthers) is a hipster aimlessly moving in and out of the beat scene of the city, and he may be close to trouble. Benny's sister Lelia (BAFTA nominated Lelia Goldoni), who looks more white than African-American, is falling in love with white man Tony (BAFTA nominated Anthony Ray), but she is equally vulnerable as his prejudice comes into play. The eldest of the three siblings is brother Hugh (Hugh Hurd) who is struggling with his singing career, his agent Rupert (Rupert Crosse) seems to be the only person who has faith in his talent. Like jazz the story moves back and forth between the stories of the three siblings, it starts seeing their lives separately before their individual situations bring them together. Also starring Dennis Sallas as Dennis, Tom Allen as Tom and David Pokitillow as David. I can see some reasons why this film was considered a benchmark for it's time, it is interesting to see what the actors come up with while ad-libbing, it certainly inspired independent filmmakers for the future, there might not be very much happening during this, but it is an alright drama. It was nominated the BAFTAs for Best Film from any Source and the UN Award for John Cassavetes. Worth watching!

A strange feeling, reality in its purest and most authentic awkwardness, in its uncertainty, in its clumsiness, in the way it makes you feel ... but it's right here happening before our eyes … guys, young hipsters, try to get women on a bar, the talking is so disjointed, it seems like going nowhere, you wonder where this will lead … nowhere, in fact. And why not? Life is like a jazzy score, you know, the one that punctuates this movie every now and then with the feeling that every thing is so cool, nothing is to be taken seriously unless this little thing that makes you enjoy the way you are, and the people you love … it's just … in the air, you know …Yeah, who said whatever happened should mean something when it's happening, no one. We got so used to the 'plot for the plot' concept but what we've got here … it's … well they call it cinema verity, authenticity, reality … but maybe I'm wrong but is this movie from 1957, 2 years before the over-praised "Breathless", two years before modern cinema was invented? I can't believe that … well, I know it is … And this is the truth for me, that "Shadows" is the pioneer of modern cinema, and maybe "Breathless" took the honor to be considered the milestone, but I don't care … because "Shadows" didn't have the pretension to even be taken as a movie, yet it managed to create something so blindingly new, people didn't even realize Cassavettes had just made what cinema needed, poor old fools … Truest and greatest artist are never recognized in their time … But I realized I make the movie sound like an exercise in originality, while this was more the case of "Breathless" which beyond the undeniable artistic creativity, wasn't like the most meaningful movie ever made. "Shadows" brings a new dimension to cinema as the first movie whose main characters are colored people, yet it does indirectly deal with racial issues without the preachy aspect of reverse moralistic racism and of course, with absolutely no stereotypes. It's a superb movie about races, because it's not even about racism, it's about misconception, like the whole film has been also misconceived, which makes it, an incredibly well- made self-referential film, well, let's go back to the film, will you …The central character is named Bennie, a trumpet jazz musician, a hipster, with the demeanor of a young rocker, he could be a Latino but from his brother, an entertainer singer with darker skin, we understand he's Afro-American. Then we meet Lelia, their sister, a beautiful girl, the cutest cinematic character ever … Again, these are not details, they'll serve the plot in a very uneasy way, that'll make question our approach to racial issues. This is not really about racism, but more about our inner conception of "difference", I mean "physical difference", about color of skins, about black and white … and how, ethnicity can fool anyone in such a way, there's no black and white when you think of it, it's more nuanced, more subtle, there's no dark or light, only 'shadows' …This is where the heart of the film relies on, the romance between Lelia and Tony, a powerful relationship that evokes those weird interactions driven by racial misconception… Their chemistry when they meet at the party feels so real and natural we believe they'll automatically form a perfect couple, then you realize that Tony might not be the most honest man in the world, probably sincere by the way he manipulated Lelia's feelings leading her to his home, but the respect he showed was only inspired by a strong desire not to respect her, after. When she understands she was just a body, her distress is so heartbreaking, you feel for her. The shadows is precisely this kind of misunderstanding that undermines relationships between people, it's all about the way you see it, in a way, and I respect Cassavettes' intelligence so much I'm sure this was intended ...One can see this movie as a self-referential masterpiece, it's juts a bunch of people, talking and interacting, that's all, no precise goal, no plot whatsoever, yeah … but remember the museum scene, weren't they all laughing at a statue supposed to be Art? And supposed to be respected just for the sake of that? And this is how "Shadows" works, and I'm not even afraid to say the word, it's iconoclast … it puts into perspective every cinematic conception, what is art? What is cinema? Is it just entertaining people? That's all? Cassavettes, in his directorial debut, decided that cinema was more than showing stuff in a screen while people were eating pop-corn …Art opens your eyes, and now, in 2011, while I'm watching this stuff that happened when my parents were babies, I realize that Cassavettes created something I could relate to, and if a guy like me could relate to, even 50 years after, then all I can said is Kudos to Cassavetes, the pioneer of independent films!Well, it's a special movie, John. You were too ahead of your time, but don't worry, there are people out there who know about "Shadows" and will talk about this film and give it the greatest publicity, whenever some sophisticated movie snobs will bring out a Godard movie as the most influential cinematic thing ever made …You were too great and came too early for cinema, they didn't deserve such a film, I guess they still had to wait 10 years until "Bonnie and Clyde" and "In the Heat of the Night" were made … it's okay, this was the way …The review you just read was an improvisation

Seven months after a revelatory viewing of Faces, I finally found a rentable DVD copy of Cassavetes' first feature. Shot on a shoestring in Manhattan and in his acting workshop on ad hoc sets, Shadows was the culmination of months of improvisational rehearsals, in which the (mostly amateur) actors bonded with one another, invented their characters, and polished their techniques to give their filmed performances just the right tenor of spontaneous familiarity. This intimate approach led to some incredibly daring work in Faces—i.e., Seymour Cassel cramming his hands down Lynn Carlin's throat in an attempt to revive her from an overdose—just as the actors' utter conviction here yields blisteringly honest moments like Lelia and Tony's post-coital assessment of their relationship and Ben's revulsion at a black woman's touch as a manifestation of his racial confusion and self-loathing. This is a homemade production in the best sense: the out-of-sync dubbing and sound recording, and the granular cinematography and up-close camera setups, build an immersive atmosphere that perfectly suits Cassavetes' nuanced vision of human relationships as perpetual works in progress, marked by desperate emotional fluctuations and wistful attempts at communication and understanding. Charles Mingus's largely improvised jazz score is an ideal complement to the film's vision of living by the moment, a mantra by which Cassavetes worked and seemingly lived.

Shot on a minimal budget of $40,000 with a skeleton six person crew, SHADOWS offers an observation of the tensions and lives of three siblings in an African-American family in which two of the three siblings, Ben (Ben Carruthers) and Lelia (Lelia Goldoni), are light-skinned and able to pass for white. Cassavetes demanded that the actors retain their real names to reflect the actual conflicts within the group but saw the film as being concerned with human problems as opposed imply to racial ones. Cassavetes shot the film in ten minute takes and jagged editing, a reaction against 'seamless' Hollywood production values. Cassavetes main inspiration - at least in the cinematic style the film was shot - were the Italian neo-realists whilst also professing admiration for Welles' pioneering spirit. The use of amateurs and improvisation might resemble some of the Italian neo-realist directors, but with his bebop score by Charles Mingus ans Shafi Hadi, the film feels very different, very American, unlike anything made before really. The song with the feathered girls, "I feel like a lolly-pop" (or something) feels like light years back to me, ancient history. But no matter how dated it might look, it still makes a delightful time capsule of late Fifties New York today. I think it's this is one of the first films made aspiring filmmakers realize they could shoot an independent film, without Hollywood, improvised and without a real budget. Seymour Cassel, who acted and was involved in SHADOWS, claims it was Jules Dassin's THE NAKED CITY (1948) that was the first and inspired them all, but I think this was the one that really opened the eyes of aspiring independent American filmmakers.Camera Obscura --- 8/10