Faces

I am slowly working my way through the John Cassavetes boxset, and the second film in the collection is Faces (1968). It is another hallmark in American independent cinema with a focus on giving the actors room to inhabit their characters and a focus on their interpretations via their body movements and facial expressions-hence the reliance on hand held cameras that could follow the actors as they explored their characters. It seeks finding truth in the underbelly of middle America and uses a deteriorating relationship between a typical middle class couple, Dickie (John Marley) and Maria (Lynn Carlin) whose marriage is falling apart. It somewhat reminiscent of Who Afraid of Virgina Woolf?. Throughout the film characters are being unmasked and revealing true emotions and vulnerability that lies behind the facades they present in everyday life. The catalyst for Dickie is the prostitute Jeannie (Gena Rowlands) and for Maria it's the hustler Chet (Seymour Cassel). Surprisingly this daring film garnered three Academy Award nominations (for Best Supporting actor -Cassel, Best Supporting Actress-Carlin and screenplay for Cassavetes) even though it is the extreme opposite of  a Hollywood film in the way it was produced, it took two years to finish since they ran out of money for the film. In the end it is a triumph of independent film making.