LOVE STREAMS

The versatile talents of writer/director/actor/composer John Cassavetes and his films have been lauded by the European public and critics, yet often underestimated in the U.S. until recently. “Husbands,” “Minnie and Moskowitz,” “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Gloria” are among the 11 films Cassavetes has directed since 1957, 7 of them starring his wife, Gina Rowlands. Film buffs will find allusions to themes of most of Cassavetes' other films in LOVE STREAMS, even though it is co-written by Ted Allan (“Lies My Father Told Me”), based on Allan's openly biographical play. Gena Rowlands repeats her stage role, showing her rarely seen comedic ability as Sarah, whose obsessive love smothers her husband and daughter. Her marriage over, Sarah moves in with her completely opposite yet equally mad and desperate brother, Robert (John Cassavetes), a writer. His L.A. home turns into a menagerie of 2 Shetland ponies (yes, in the house, when it rains!), a goat, bird, dog and assorted barnyard animals – not to mention assorted ladyfriends. Cassavetes conveys his characters' fixations in delirious images, full of increasingly mordant, black wit. The film analyzes love and human relationships; its whole point is revealed in Sarah's cathartic dream, a fantastic love-opera tha is contrasted with Robert's climactic vision in LOVE STREAMS' stormy conclusion.