I have asserted before--if not necessarily on this blog--that Cassavetes' films don't have their formal coherence and intelligence concentrated in their camera movements, that compositionally, Cassavetes is not working in any sort of emphatic register. That his form (and I have always held that he was formally interesting!) instead revolves actors, bodies, and pacing. But a second viewing of Love Streams, on 35mm, shattered this illusion. Even his 'kino-eye' is absolutely amazing.
I'd also previously accepted that Cassavetes' work translates as fine as anything else to video might. Now, I'm less sure. The qualities of light and color, the texture of the image, on the print certainly trump the American VHS that you can find decaying on the shelves of your local videostore. And screen captures from the French DVD, while an improvement on the VHS, still don't look too promising.
2 comments:
Thanks for the e-mail, Zach. I'll reply a little later on today. You've given me an idea I'd like to run by you.
You must've seen a newer or less-shopped print than the one I saw at Oak Street a few years back. My print was as pink as the noses on those cute linebackers on Animal Planet's absolutely genius bit of counterprogramming for Super Bowl Sunday.
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