Critique du Library Journal

Pioneering independent-film director John Cassavetes (1929-89) employed handheld 16mm cameras and gave his actors (who were often his friends) free rein despite thorough scripting, lending his rough-hewn work an air of improvisation. Faces focuses on a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, while Shadows deals with an ill-fated interracial romance. Dialog-heavy, character-driven, and decidedly unslick, these representative films from the considerable Cassavetes canon are influential but not for the action-film fan. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.