The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Gorp says (I love mentioning him in my reviews these days, huh? XD) that this movie is best seen when you are half-asleep. As for myself, I watched the film in little pieces over 4 days, each time starting watching it after 10pm. Every day I was really, really tired. And strangely enough, the later it got the more I enjoyed the film. It’s amazingly moody, beautiful and it has a few scenes where simple facial expressions is all the scene needs. It really makes me curious about how the movies with Gena Rowlands are – I have extremely high expectations considering that John Cassavetes must love her.
Apparently there is a rather different, longer version of the film which is rarely shown in the U.S. Reportedly, Ben Gazzara disliked the longer version saying that the club scenes were too long. But the club scenes are precisely what I loved about the film! That is where the moodiness comes from, where the girls could become more than lovely side characters. Right now, all of them are sidekicks except for one who serves to show how the main character experiences love.
I am not sure if I would recommend the movie. It’s the kind of film where I’d understand if you say that you loved it, but I’d also understand if you said you hated it. But in the latter case, I’d think that it’s a shame.
this film oozes melancholia like no other one i know. it was heady and frustrating and quite impossible for me to get through when i saw it for the first time. and then i came back to it one really late night when i couldn’t sleep, and it just broke my heart? it is the most nuanced and masterful film by Cassavetes i’ve seen – none of them are superficially enjoyable in my experience, they often seem intractably digressive and overlong. none of them have a single likable protagonist. they just kinda ebb and flow until you actually become hooked by all the levels of characterization and details in the acting. these are essential viewings for sure, and i still have some significant blind spots!
Some movies really are frustrating, oh wow. Surprisingly, I thought this movie was less frustrating than, say, “Monsieur Verdoux” – which also broke my heart. “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie” is the kind of movie that you’d either feel connected to, or you don’t. I want to see “Opening Night” now. I want to see an unlikable Gena Rowlands! XD