Today, he’s known as the “father of American independent film,” but even that underrates John Cassavetes. For decades now, filmmakers have grasped at the authenticity that came so natural to Cassavetes’ work by following his DIY approach — hand-held cameras, available lighting, friends and family as cast (often and most notably his wife Gena Rowlands), and above all, financing by second-mortgage and sky-high credit. The blessedly mixed results — alternately amateurish and transcendent — all point back to an influence so fresh and ahead of his time that we still haven’t caught up to him.
Past Films in this Series
