Shadows

John Cassavetes first film as a director, Shadows, came out the same year as Jean-Luc Goddard's Breathless. I think that both films breathed new life into the form that was perhaps becoming somewhat bloated by the studio systems, it is somewhat akin to the punk movement with an emphasis on do-it-yourself. Goddard finding inspiration as a film critic who was compelled to make movies and Cassavetes as an actor with a bad experience within the film system and wanted to make films on his own terms. This film evolved out of Cassavetes improv acting troupe and chronicled the lives of a group of mixed race friends living in New York and dared to look at un-Hollywood issues such as racism and awkward first sex encounters, which were unheard of in those days. Cassavetes was trying to achieve a sort of verisimilitude of the human experience by focusing more on the characters than story or cinema conventions. As a result some film critics disdain Cassavetes improv style, while others laude his style. Critic Philip Lopate was late to the party, because of the fact that Cassavetes went adrift from the conventional long-medium shot style of most art films of the era and experimented with hand-held and close-ups to capture the essence of his characters. His gonzo filming style also brings the viewer in direct contact with the seedy 42nd Street of New York in the 50s