Casavitti's life as a drinker

John cassavetti is a pioneer of American independent films. He left his name in the film history with the triathlon of editing, directing and acting. However, his works are seriously underestimated because of their high non-mainstream and individualization, and have only been circulated in film academies and independent film fans for a long time.

The film is a highly technical job with a division of labor. People who can make a director grasp it are usually the darlings of critics. Woody Allen, for example, was the golden boy of American independent films before the scandal of sexual abuse of adopted daughters broke out. In contrast, Cassavetti was more talented than Woody Allen, less lovable than Woody Allen, and was repeatedly ignored by film critics in his time.

John Kasavetti first made his debut as an actor, and was deeply inspired by the Russian drama master Stanny Lavschi. In the 195s, he set up a workshop on Methodist acting in new york. An impromptu performance training aroused his idea of "making his own film". He raised funds from his friends, pondered the script with the workshop students, and made Shadow. He won the jury prize at the Venice Film Festival when he tried his voice. Little did I know that this shot, with the difficult filming mode, pushed open the door of American independent films.

As a director, Casavitti attaches importance to teamwork and is on an equal footing with actors, so he has assembled a die-hard cast. As an actor in other people's movies, he has many opinions and likes to argue with the director. In 1968, when filming "Rosemary's Baby", he and Roman Polanski had a big argument because of their differences of opinion, and they fell out. At that time, Polanski was the most important director in Hollywood, and his position was like Spielberg now. Offending him was equal to not getting mixed up in the industry. Polanski hated the actor's pointing fingers at his directing method, and criticized Kasawich for "what is a director?" Just made a few movies, anyone can make a movie like Shadow with a camera! "

John Cassavetti didn't give up these things at all. He thought that since he was unwilling to compromise, he devoted himself to making his own films. In fact, the production assistant of Casavitti's second film "The Face" was Spielberg, who was still unknown at that time. He learned a lot from his experience with Casavitti and still regarded Casavitti as a genius.

197~198 was the golden age of John Cassavetti, and he gradually established his own brand, that is, "improvisation". In the history of film, it is very rare for directors to make an immediate impact with a large number of improvisations. The film writers we are familiar with, from a wide perspective, are all against improvisation. Hitchcock, Kubrick, Bergman and Kurosawa? , etc., are all studio tyrants who are opposed to providing actors with impromptu space. They are not willing to increase the variation of filming and weaken their absolute dominance in creation. This difference just highlights the uniqueness of Casavitti.

"Improvisation" is an element of the film. Simply put, it has a playful attitude of "try and wait, maybe there will be a strange chemical effect next", and the creator can enjoy the result of "out of tune" or "accident". Improvisation emphasizes that through the state of mind relaxation, the real dramatic effect is achieved.

in casavetti's films, there are flexible brushstrokes that are not unique. The actors don't know whether they are acting or showing their true colors. The wild emotions and alcohol smell everywhere, but behind the dizziness and confusion, they always see the pearls before swine. In fact, most of Casavitti's plays are run-in with the actors in rehearsal, and the dialogue is decided and moved, and then taken to the scene for shooting, and sometimes revised on the spot. It turned out that the sly Kasavetti always knew what he wanted.

Below, I recommend four of his later classics:

The Night of the Premiere

Casavitti's recognized masterpiece. In a large-scale drama performance to be released soon, the lead actress is in serious self-doubt because of the accidental death of a fan. She can only drink and be anesthetized every day, but she disappears when the premiere night is approaching, and the completion of the whole drama is still in a mess. The troupe is facing an unprecedented crisis of opening the skylight.

Actress Gina rowlands's performance in the film is natural and vivid, and she exudes character charm. She has been with Casavitti in love and career since she was young, and she is the muse of Casavitti's works. In the last paragraph of the film, the drama of their opponents is full of excellent tacit understanding and full improvisation energy, which can be called the classic teaching material of Chinese drama.

Another classic clip is that when Gina rowlands walked from the backstage to the stage with crooked steps as drunk as a fiddler, an old employee looked at her back with admiration and slowly spit out, "I've never seen anyone so drunk that there is a way to stand on the stage and perform."

Murder of the Underground Boss

This film is set in a strip club in Las Vegas. The owner of the bar is a gambler who returned from the Korean War. He hired a group of men and women living on the edge of the bottom floor, and put on an empty show every night. Later, he was set up by a gang member and owed a huge sum of money. The other party threatened him with violence to assassinate the boss of another gang in China to offset the gambling debt.

The highlight of this film is reflected in the hero Ben Gozana, who lives alone with the marginal people, and the light of energy flows in the small ballroom theater. In particular, he walked to the coffee shop on the corner after waking up in the daytime, and a young waitress took the initiative to talk to him and wanted to apply for a dance job. Then they walked back to a dark bar. He turned on the pink spotlight, soft music sounded in the room, poured himself a glass of whisky, and then pulled a wooden chair to sit under the table. The girl who was ready on the stage began to dance shyly. He looked at the girl, and the unspeakable heart marks were slowly smoothed. The expression at that moment should be the most profound presentation of the complex heart of a middle-aged man in the history of movies.

Husband

The hangover by Kassaviti is the drinker's "On the Road". The three men in the film are drunk from beginning to end, prevaricating for a legitimate reason to leave home and drink wildly, which is definitely a strange film of drinking.

One of the most classic scenes is that these three men find a dozen elderly aunts and grandmothers in the restaurant, and they talk, drink and sing all the time around ㄧㄧ, even forcing the old man to sing. This scene alone lasts for ten minutes, which is completely inexplicable. Not to mention the three people's next wild and dissolute trip.

torrent of love

this is cassavetti's last feature film. In real life, because of long-term alcoholism, Casavitti died of cirrhosis before he was 6 years old. This film can be said to be a review of his life mood. In the film, the protagonist shuts down at home and doesn't want to go out. During the day, he wakes up leisurely and starts to drink heavily, while at night, he looks for a girlfriend to be gentle. The family contract means nothing to him. I once found that my son had grown up, so I began to guide him to enjoy wine tasting. I sighed while drinking: "I only like two kinds of people in the world, one is the old man and the other is the child. Do you know why? Because they want nothing more. "

In the five years before Kassaviti's death, the creation was basically put on hold. He has danced with alcohol and cigarettes all his life and is unwilling to deal with insiders. In his last work, The Riptide of Love, he plays a genius writer who has insight into the essence of life. He is aloof and willful, and never wants to be understood. He only places his feelings on his works to show his heart's desire.

Around the words in his movies, he lay in the dark waiting for the lonely guests who got the message.

Taiwan Province Amao | Selection Guide

Husband, 197

Murder of the Underground Boss, 1976

Premiere Night, 1977

Riptide of Love, 1984.