Husbands
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Thu 23 June 2011 // 20:00
(Thurs 23rd / 8pm / £5/4)
(John Cassavetes / 1970 / 138 minutes / Cert X)
The second of our John Cassavetes features this week has been one of the most difficult to see in recent years, so we’re all the more pleased to present it for this rare screening.
Essentially a quietly comic study of the masculine mid-life crisis, Husbands follows the exploits of three suburban, white collar American men
(writer/director Cassavetes himself, alongside regulars Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara), as they struggle to deal with the untimely death of a mutual friend. Unable to face their families after the funeral, the three men go off on a bender in a local bar, followed by an impromptu trip to London in an attempt to re-evaluate their lives and 'find themselves'. Attempting to meet their demons head on, what they ultimately do find offers them little insight.
Though billed as a comedy, Husbands explores somewhat darker concerns than the traditional Hollywood fare which inadvertently financed Cassavetes' exploratory works. Made in 1970 and thus reflecting the huge generational shift that had occurred throughout the sixties, the three ‘Husbands’ find themselves adrift and aimless in a world where the prerequisite of traditional masculine values is fast fading. As always with Cassavates, the emphasis here is firmly on character study and piercing yet subtle insight, making Husbands a quietly deadening exploration of suburban ennui and traditional machismo values.
(John Cassavetes / 1970 / 138 minutes / Cert X)
The second of our John Cassavetes features this week has been one of the most difficult to see in recent years, so we’re all the more pleased to present it for this rare screening.
Essentially a quietly comic study of the masculine mid-life crisis, Husbands follows the exploits of three suburban, white collar American men
(writer/director Cassavetes himself, alongside regulars Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara), as they struggle to deal with the untimely death of a mutual friend. Unable to face their families after the funeral, the three men go off on a bender in a local bar, followed by an impromptu trip to London in an attempt to re-evaluate their lives and 'find themselves'. Attempting to meet their demons head on, what they ultimately do find offers them little insight.
Though billed as a comedy, Husbands explores somewhat darker concerns than the traditional Hollywood fare which inadvertently financed Cassavetes' exploratory works. Made in 1970 and thus reflecting the huge generational shift that had occurred throughout the sixties, the three ‘Husbands’ find themselves adrift and aimless in a world where the prerequisite of traditional masculine values is fast fading. As always with Cassavates, the emphasis here is firmly on character study and piercing yet subtle insight, making Husbands a quietly deadening exploration of suburban ennui and traditional machismo values.