Debut by the renowned actor and later director John Cassavetes. What drew me to watch Shadows is that Cassavetes funded his own work with the change he earned from his acting gigs. This embryonic film has a knack for human tension that blossoms from a pursuit of desire and journey. At this intersection the complot blossoms into a full-blown cinematic feature that rummages through the complexity of human emotion.
It is a two-week rambling that highlights the marginalized blood trio of two brothers and a sister, each uniquely forging the waters of their own life journey, but intentionally connected to the business and affairs that each has in an uncompromising and endearing, and at times obnoxious, manner. It is a portrayal of urban existence and the complex race relations of a New York City thumping to the syncopation of a Beat Generation on the rise.
At a party, Lelia (Lelia Goldoni), a young African-American girl with a light complexion, meets Tony (Anthony Ray), a somewhat callow white musician, and they begin a romance. Lelia thinks she's in love, but Tony is surprised when he meets her older brother, Hugh (Hugh Hurd), and realizes she's black. Hugh is an unsuccessful singer with a hostile attitude, while Lelia's other sibling, Ben (Ben Carruthers), is trying to make it as a trumpet player when he isn't getting into trouble.
Release date: November 11, 1959 (USA)
Director: John Cassavetes
Cinematography: Erich Kollmar
Music composed by: Shafi Hadi, Jack Ackerman, Charles Mingus
Distributed by: British Lion Films
Edited by: Len Appelson; Maurice McEndree; Wray Bevins
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