Instant Favorite.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Cassavetes's oeuvre has consistently been misinterpreted at "realist." In fact, his films are generally expressionistic- self-conscious presentations of his mind-set-as-such. Having said that his earlier films, which I must say sometimes upset me with what I found to be their misogynistic machismo, often struck me as trying to use artistic expression to make subjective masculinity seem like an objectivity- a fact to be taken into consideration. Jackson Pollock did this too, of course. The difference is that Pollock, in his work if not life, never presented the female as lesser in relation to male subjectivity. Cassavetes, sadly, did so often, but not, I will venture, in this work. In Love Streams the filmmaker's fantasies are his alone- he asks for no ratification from the audience. Yes: a character played by him is an awful date to a woman who then falls for the character. But I think we are not meant to identify with either the male or the female in this scenario so much as with ourselves as viewers. Cassavetes is putting his id on display here and asks simply for recognition of his subjectivity as such. Indeed, if there is a figure of identification for the viewer it is the character played by Gena Rowlands, the sister of the Cassavetes figure. Befuddled and disgusted by a world that does not acknowledge her romantic demands she is that which her brother, the artistic articulation of suffering and resolution, can only satisfy. He does so by taking the mantle of an Old Testament martyr, but one capable of laughing and crying at and for himself.

Love Streams feels like the last in an unofficial trilogy of films where Gena Rowlands played "women under the influence" for Cassavetes. Like in A Woman Under the Influence she plays a woman who appears to love too much and feel too intensely, which alienates her from her family. As with Opening Night Cassavetes departs further from his naturalistic , hanheld camera style and he gives us a view of the inside workings of his protagonists mind. We see things only Rowlands' characters see. Unlike with the two earlier films, here gets a kindred spirit in Cassavetes' equally troubled character.For the first half the film cuts back and forth between two protagonists, one a womanising, insomniac alcoholic writer, the other a just divorced mother with mental health issues. Having lost custody of her daughter, she returns from a manic jaunt round Europe. Cassavetes and Rowlands characters meet an hour into the film (the nature or their relationship doesn't become clear till later) and they both increasingly lose control, till it all ends with a small menagerie of animals and a surreal musical sequence worthy of David Lynch.Absolutely amazing and never miserable as it's also darkly funny and ultimately a strangely hopeful film. A sequence where Cassavetes' absent father is asked to look after his eight year old son for a day by one of his ex-wives, gets the kid drunk and takes him to Vegas is an appalling, yet wickedly funny depiction of truly terrible parenting.Rowlands is one of the greatest of all screen actors and she is still criminally underrated. She played emotionally/mentally vulnerable women without a shred of sentimentality or self-pity. There is a defiant toughness to her characters which makes her as electrifying as Brando at his best. Despite playing several characters with mental health issues for Cassavetes, she never allowed herself to come across as victimised. Awards voters love an obvious victim turn, so this may be why she's never been properly recognised by the Academy. Here she plays a woman who loves too much, which becomes too much to deal with for everyone but Cassavetes' equally damaged character. With an actress who would have made less interesting choicest, this could have come off as maudlin but Rowlands' performance undermines any emotional vanity or sign-posting. She never tells you how you should feel about her characters, which is what makes her so compelling.Cassavetes too gives a fantastic performance. The characters in his films feel so alive and unpredictable, there is constant tension, it feels like anything could happen. Cassavetes, the godfather of the American indie film, at this point had abandoned the cinema verite style he had basically invented. The film has a dreamlike quality, features a shape shifting dog and ends with a mini-opera.

I just had the good fortune to view this beautiful film. It's a shame it isn't widely available (it's never been released on DVD in Region 1). As for the cast, the acting is outstanding, especially Gena Rowlands performance, which is sublime, and John Cassavetes himself, who commands the screen throughout. Moreover, it's very entertaining and watchable, so if you're wary of Cassavetes reputation for creating obtuse, difficult films you needn't be concerned here. As for the plot, what struck me most is how the film begins (Robert's house as a chaotic location filled with sex, yet devoid of anything resembling love) and ends (Robert all by himself - except for the menagerie Sarah brought home for him - after he's finally awakened to a real love--his Platonic love for Sarah). In other words, Sarah's mantra of love as a constant stream comes to pass. She may be mad, but her perceived insanity is really a beautiful vision at odds with our modern world and it's power offers the potential to save Robert from a life of despair.

There's an amazing scene in this movie where the character played by Gena Rowlands visits an animal farm and buys practically the entire stock. She's heartsick and probably insane, so she becomes ecstatic just because a dog starts licking her hand. This scene reminded me what a great actress Gena Rowlands is. I've seen all of her Cassavetes movies, and she's tough, smart and heartbreaking in all of them. She gets put through the emotional wringer in virtually every movie, but her reactions never seem phony. People might disagree over the value of Cassavetes' movies, but I think everyone could agree that he was very lucky to have her.