International Movies

A verite style movie from John cassavettes.This movie for nothing else, can be watched for Gena Rowlands performance.Her performances in this movie is just awesome, its a tour de force.One of the all time best female performances i have seen.Peter Falk as mabel's husband nick has also given a good performance.

The movie talks about the effect of mental illness's on a family. Gena rowlands who plays the character, mabel is a women suffering from mental problems.She is not totally crazy, but someone who is like the characters of amol palekhar's Ankahee and K.balachander's Agni sakshi.Peter falk the husband and the 3 childrens go through a lot because of that.

Gena Rowlands

It is not a feel good movie or a movie that is looking to make you cry or is not a movie that wants to give a solution to the problem. It justs shows a family's suffering because of the manic depression of one family member. There is no big story or a plot, its just day to day happening of that family. But The performance and the situations are so gripping that you get gelled in their day to day activity.

There is a scene at the start of the movie where nick brings his friend for lunch and they all have spagetti.The eccentricity of mabel, the embarrassment of nick all plays out so well.Its a normal family scene but the tension underneath and the performance makes us another of those guys having the spagetti.

You can feel the embarrassment her husband has to go through because of her. You can feel the joy and love that mabel has for her children’s, you can feel her loneliness, her pure joy when playing with the neighbor’s children’s and the way the neighbor feels about Mabel. Its a movies that gives every one's point of view. you cannot say someone as bad and someone as good. you fell the helplessness of the family, the whole situation. you can blame no one other than the manic depression problem.

John cassavettes