Get Your Reps In: John Cassavetes Gets Raw in “Shadows”

Shadows (1959)

John Cassavetes forever changed the course of American independent moviemaking with films like Faces, Husbands and A Woman Under the Influence. But his first film, Shadows (1959), finds the famously raw director at his rawest, scraping the vibe off the walls of midnight diners and backroom ragers with overstressed microphones and guerrilla 16 mm camera setups.

Set in late-1950s Manhattan, Shadows traces the bonds and divergences of three Black siblings, two of whom sometimes pass for white, as they scramble through the music and dating scenes of the Beat Generation. The characterization is loose but always expressed with acuity: Lelia (Lelia Goldoni) seeks a fragile romantic freedom, Ben (Ben Carruthers) is a party fly who exudes misery when he gets there, and Hugh (Hugh Hurd) is a nightclub singer whose artistic values are stymying his career.

The commentary on race (while regrettably expressed via two white actors) is shockingly subtle in an era dominated by loud, values-forward polemics. “The film you have just seen was an improvisation,” claims one of Shadows’ closing cards. That’s not entirely true, as the film was rescripted and reworked from a 1957 version. But the feeling sure remains. 5th Avenue, March 3-5.

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