Film: Love Streams (192/250)
First Time/Rewatch: First Time
I have barely begun to dip my toes into the work of director John Cassavetes, but he has largely impressed me so far. But the one who really impresses me is Gena Rowlands, who is less an actress and more a force of nature. She and Cassavetes play siblings (which must have been weird considering they were married!) who are reunited during particularly tumultuous times in their lives. I feel like Rowlands always plays mentally unstable characters, but she's SO damn good at it. Her performance is visceral and desperate. If I had to nitpick, it's that the movie is working so hard at putting us in her headspace without trusting in the sheer strength of her stand-alone performance. It's full of wait-did-that-actually-happen? moments, although some of them work pretty well (the pool scene is amazing). While I could take or leave the story having to do with Cassavetes' character, I never miss an opportunity to take in a tour de force performance from this incredible woman. Her honorary Oscar couldn't be more deserved.
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