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Good morning, and this is morning real if I see
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and I review it, he's a three to four to
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women in the Sol podcast of films that I review
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from black and white to color from eighteen eighty nine
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to twenty twenty five, you name it, I review it. Anyways,
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today I'm very excited to review this film called Opening Night.
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It's a nineteen seventy seven American psychological drama film written
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and directed by John Cassavitz, Who's jun Kioseovitz.
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Listen man.
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John Cassavitz is like a rapper's favorite rapper, but in filmmaking,
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so it's a filmmaker's favorite filmmaker. And this guy did
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not make a lot of movies in his lifetime. I
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mean compared to like, let's just say, Francis vour Coppola,
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Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch. He did make a
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handful of films, a lot of unproduced work since the
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time of his death that has been discovered.
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Right, John Cavit Cassovitz is a g man.
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He he is the epitome of an independent filmmaker, an
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American independent filmmaker. Just to like put the emphasis on that,
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because guess what Man. Like, if this guy had not
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existed or maybe just directed maybe like three films and
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that's it, we wouldn't have directors like Sean Baker and
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Quentin Tarantino, like just off top, because when you look
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at this guy's work, especially this film Opening Night, you
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see a lot of what Quentin Tarantino would do in
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his career, you know, and work on why as well.
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I'm pretty sure one car Y studied John Cassovitz, and honestly,
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like every filmmaker should study cass of it Its because
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he really isn't He really isn't your you're He's just
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not your typical movie director. You know. He makes films
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about people going through like shit man, whether it's like
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a mental breakdown or they're stuck in her place between criminals,
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moms and stuff related to that. And honestly, like he
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deals with like he touches on race really like puts
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women out there. You know, he doesn't make a woman.
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A secondary character.
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In fact, he tries to put women as a as
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a primary character. And I just gotta go through the
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credits real quick. Anyways, this film Opening Night, it's about
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an actress who is trying to make sense of a
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play that she is currently working under along with like
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other people who are honestly taking this play very serious.
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And it's not that she doesn't take it so as
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they do. But look, man, when somebody gives you, like,
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let's say you're a creative person, right, let's say you're
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an actor. Somebody gives you a work, and you're very talented,
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you know, even though you have your set of problems, right,
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but you're talented, and you have a certain stigma of
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certain things as to how a place should be like right,
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and like the play that she's working under.
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Is basically.
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A play about aging, and she is in middle She's
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a middle aged actress, General Rowlands. Generals is the key character.
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She plays, this character called Murda Gordon, playing a play
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called The Second Woman or Second Woman whatever, right, I mean,
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the plot of the film, the plot of the play, look,
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doesn't really matter, because the whole point is that she
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doesn't get this play. So we get the play, but
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she doesn't get it because she herself is having a
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hard time trying to like struggled her crisis as a
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middle aged person. And it's funny because all the other
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actors and screenwriter, director they're all old.
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They're all old.
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All the key cast of characters are old. And it's
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funny because Cassavettes during the time of this film, when
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he was writing it and directing it, obviously was in
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the stage of middle aged nests or whatever. Right, So anyway,
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this woman tries to make display her own. She tries
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to find something in it where she can just decide like,
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you know what, Okay, I
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gotta be cool with this woman,
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and I just gotta take off with it. And eventually
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she does.
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Right.
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But it's a roller coaster of emotions, roller coaster of drama,
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not an experimental psychological film. But it's it is melodramatic,
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but it's not the type of melodramatic that you would find.
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And let's say like a Tyler Perry film where everything's
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just overacted. But I would say, like when it comes
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to Broadway and all that stuff, I think it's normal
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that the actors overact, right, But there's certain screen like
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stage playwrights who don't want that type of stuff. They
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want to stick to the script. And in this particular film,
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the director wanted Myrtle Gordon to stick to the script
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as much as she can and.
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It's funny because the play was written by a woman.
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So there's these like there's this not a consensus or discourse,
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but all these characters play certain roles that kind of
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like stab at the notion of age and aging, you know,
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and what their positions in their life are and what
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their worth is. And each character kind of puts it
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out there, you know. The director puts it out there.
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After a night of like of rehearsing, all he doesn't
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All he just wants to do is come home, have
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a nightcap with his wife.
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And go to bed.
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But this guy is stuck having received phone calls of
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Myrtle pretty much kind of like seeking that attention. But
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it's not like on purpose.
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It's just that she's it's like she can't manage who
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she is.
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And then she's an alcoholic as well, and that plays
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a big.
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Big part in the film.
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Overall. It's it's a wild film, man, But I love
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this film, and a lot of a lot.
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Of people don't.
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Really this is like a weak Cassavettes film. A lot
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of people would tend to agree that it's a week
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because there's not much of an ending per se in
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this film. And I'm not gonna spoil the ending, and
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I'm gonna tell you how it ends. You can kind
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of see where it goes and how it.
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Ends once she wants.
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Once you watch the film, I gotta say I was.
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I was very intrigued by its ending because how I
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see it, you know, besides, like the actual plot is concerned.
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I mean, this woman is really trying to get through
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this play as much as she can. And it's funny
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because like, it's not like she has a it's not
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like she has no choice.
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She can quit if she wants, but it's it's sort
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of that thing where like.
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And she and she mentions it in the film with
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like with the tell the stage playwright right played by
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who plays her John Blondell. She plays the stage playwright
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called Sarah Good. She writes this film it's about aging,
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and obviously you can tell. And you know, it's common
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in the field, in the heart of filmmaking, where the
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writer puts a lot of himself or herself or themselves
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in the actual product. You know, I'm pretty sure when
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Quentin Tarantino wrote Reservoir Dogs, it put a whole freaking
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life there, you know, even though he's never experienced crime,
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he's never been in a mob type of environment or whatever,
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at least I don't know he has or whatnot. But
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put yourself there. You put a lot of yourself there,
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and I'm pretty sure Sarah put a lot of herself there.
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But Mirta just doesn't. She can't put herself there, and
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she doesn't make like this point where I'm not as
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old as you are, So how can I even possibly
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understand you as a woman of your age? No disrespect,
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And Sarah isn't the type of mindset was just like
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you think I care, dude, Like, isn't that the point
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of acting to like pretend to embody yourself as the
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character because you are selling something that hundreds of people
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are gonna watch you do, and low key hi key,
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they're expecting greatness. Anything you put out you're obviously going
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to expect, especially when it comes to like entertainment in
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regards in anything in entertainment, you expect it to be the.
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Greatest thing ever. And you have to repeat the greatest thing.
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Ever again and again and again. In this particular play,
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Marle just can't do it.
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She just can't.
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It's like she can't see where she could stand along
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with the character that she's playing, and not only that man,
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like after the like maybe like the first night or
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two of rehearsals, she gets out right and everybody's like.
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Oh my god, you're the best. Oh my god, I
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can't live without you.
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And there's this one fan who like literally throws herself
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onto Mermal and cries and like doesn't want to let
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go over her wants to like just be attached to
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her because maybe that's like the only thing that makes
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sense to her, because I think that's what Jenner Rowlands,
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who plays Myrtle Gordon, is trying to make sense of
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this play and of herself, like, you know, I'm doing this.
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I've been doing this for a long time.
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You know. I want to put myself out there. Acting
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is what gets my kicks going, you know. And she
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said something like that herself, you know, to Sarah Good,
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like I get a kick out of acting, Like it's just.
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I just can't. I just can't.
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It's just weird, like I gotta I don't know. And
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then anyways, the chick the fan tries to you know,
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just not only get her autographs in, but just wants
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to like live through her right, and comes to the
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point where she's like on her knees and she can't
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get up. It's like she's lost control of her own self.
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And it's crazy because Myrtle.
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Loses control of her own self a couple of times
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throughout the film. And it's man, I just gotta say this,
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man like General Rowland recently passed away.
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She lived a long age.
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She's done a bunch of films since being with Castlebets, Right,
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I mean she did The Notebook, playing the like the
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primary not the like playing the older version of Rachel
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McAdams's character. You know, like she plays the like I
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guess the present you know of that character, right, And man, dude,
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like one of the first films that I've seen General
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Rowlands in honestly is The Notebook. And I remember seeing
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The Notebook like maybe like.
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Ten years after it came out.
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And then when you're watching it from like a different
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perspective of life as you're older, right, and you see
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this character, but you see the woman behind the character, right,
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and you're like, dude, that's General Rowlands and she's still
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it's not like she's playing again another role of a
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woman breaking down. But like it makes sense how a
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person like General Rowlans can like embody a role like
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that or embody a similar role and play it to
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a t and honestly man like it's it. It's not difficult,
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but at the same time, it's not easy to play
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women who are under any type of distress. But general
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Rowles does it so good, especially in Opening Night, Like
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you can see this this person embodying a character who's
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trying to figure herself out along with people who are like.
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They're not very.
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The most encouraging of people, right, But then again it's
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like this woe is an alcoholic, She's fucking everything up, dude,
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Like she can't even like like maintain herself to get
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slapped by her co star. But like, you know, because
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this is gonna be live on stage, right, they're gonna
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there's gonna there is going to be violence. You know,
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there's gonna be some type of battery or a man
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is going to legitimately harm a woman with an open
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hand slab but not even using the palm, using the fingers, right,
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And this is very directly, this is very carefully directed, right,
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especially if by being Gazara playing many Victor who's the
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director of the play. And then I'm not seeing a
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lot of ban Gazara to see him play a you know,
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a play director or whatever.
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Man, it's it's.
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Fun seeing him now, but it's it's it's great to
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see him put himself out there, you know, as a character.
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But yeah, all these people who surround Myrtle honestly not
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the best people to surround themselves to kind of they're
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kind of dicks, man Like. Then again, at the same time,
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is like everybody has a role, right even to the personnel,
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like the rip lighting staff all that stuff. Man, Like
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they're doing a job.
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They're they're hired, they're getting paid or he's trying to
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get paid. Good, you know what I'm saying.
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And then comes in this chick, Myrtle Gordon, who's just
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unstable and it's kind of like not her fault, man,
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because towards the like in the first act of the film,
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like she witnesses a car crash with that fan, Like
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she sees that fan. Well I don't know if she
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sees her or not, but that fan does get killed,
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like gets killed by a car, and it haunts her
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and the haunts her throughout the whole film to the
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point where she needs to see a spiritualist. And it's
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funny because that's the only time where Sarah Good is
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actually good to Myrtle, Like she actually tries to help
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her out, because you know, after hearing her soul and
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all that stuff, just like, okay, you know what, let's
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try this. And I gotta say, man from a screenwriting
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point of view, especially like you know, you don't want
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to say just some plain old film about a woman
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breaking down. There's got to be reasons for it. There's
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got to be some type of drive. The stakes are high,
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and they got to get higher. And here you are
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watching Myrtle and Sarah go to a spiritualist's home or
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workshop or whatnot. They try to do a seance. And
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it's kind of hard to tell whether if we are
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watching the woman who died or is it really Myrtle
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watching it and we're just getting a perspective of her.
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It's kind of very difficult to kind of it's kind
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of very difficult to kind of get the head wrapped
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onto that. But it works for her, it works for
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the screenplay because you gott to push something forward, right,
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like this film is about a woman actress trying to
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get your shit together, right, which is like kind of
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very hard to do.
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And it's funny because like, if you're drinking, you're trying
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to just cope with the trauma. Obviously that's not gonna help.
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But it's a fun right to see this film fun
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right to see general and is playing Mortal Gordon.
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She really pulls it off.
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Man. I like the way they touch the subject of aging,
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touch the subject of acting and aging at the same time.
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It's a really good film. I'm not really into Broadway
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or plays, but when you watch something like this, it's
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funny because the way Cassovitz shoots the the play scenes,
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it's obviously from kind of like from the audience's point
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of view, right like, and it's from different angles as well.
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And I love how he uses the space, you know.
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And it was film that the.
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Pasadena Civic Auditorium, which is kind of really cool to
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know that this film was shot, like shit, like less
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than ten miles from where I live. You know, it's
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kind of nice to see that a director can pull
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something like that off, you know. But anyways, the way
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he can use that much space, you know, to like
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let the actress be free. And even though this is
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a fucking play, any film that we're watching. It's fun
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to see how actors coming gether, come together and just
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act their asses off.
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And there's a point in this.
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Film where Myrtle comes up to Maurice Aarons, who play
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who is played by John Cassavettz. And it's crazy because
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it's fun to see like directors starring their films. And yeah,
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there's something that don't really do a good job like
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no Offense dude, Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino. They're not,
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but they're not supposed to be right.
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They're just they're just trying to move the story forward.
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That's the whole point, whether it's shitty or not. The
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cast of its man in this film.
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Man like talk about breaking the fourth fall, talk about
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breaking the foundations of filmmaking, the core foundations of filmmaking,
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and just like let her rip and make.
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It his own.
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He himself, as a filmmaker, is trying to understand or
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try to put it understanding, try to put his own
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thing onto a project like this, and.
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Could it work? I believe it did work.
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Now, Like I said in the beginning of all this,
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not a lot of people like this film because it
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felt like it didn't really go too much anywhere. But
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I mean, the whole plot of the film really, to
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me at least, is this woman trying to fucking get
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through this play, get through the opening night period and
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guess what she did that.
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Now, did she pull it off or not?
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That's really up to the viewer to the side. Now
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in the film, there is a consensus. And you know,
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when you're watching a shitty film. People love shitty films
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and people don't like shitty films. But when you sit
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on in the theater and you watch a shitty play
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going on and you don't even know it, but you're
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rooting for it because to you, it just makes sense.
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And I feel like that's what John cassabiszs Strona inquire
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upon that, like, there are some things even if it's crap,
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if it makes sense to you, if you love it
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and
applaud it and all that stuff, then then that
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person won. Jenna Rowland's one, and she continues to keep
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on winning up until the time of her passing.
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You know, but.
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If anybody's trying to get into acting or loves to
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see films with women driven roles, you will never be
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disappointed with General Rowlands. She is one of a kind
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female actor Dad, even to this day, there hasn't been.
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It's not that you can't become General Rowlands or become
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like General Rowlands, but this woman, like with all the
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handful of films that she's been in, every one of them,
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she put her one hundred percent self out there and
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you can never get enough. Honestly, you kind of want
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to watch the film again, and not from like a critic.
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The critic comes out in you sometimes, but like when
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you're watching it as a fan, as like seeing a
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person just be as free as they can in filmmaking,
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and then like Broadway and all that stuff, to see
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it happen, no holds bar and trying and having them
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make sense of it for themselves, like what more do
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you want? I think the film wins, and as far
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as the third actors concerned, I think it just wins
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just by the fact that she got through the fucking
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play to some dismay of certain people, but she won man.
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And that's funny because like people don't really like when
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you got something going on, like something that's brutal to
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you going through a bad situation, but you got a
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project that you got to like make sure that you
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deliver it because there's hundreds of people who are kind
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of basically.
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Make like they're pulling.
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They're putting it all on you in a sense, they're
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just putting it.
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All on you, and.
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You just gotta do it because otherwise, like what was
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the point even trying to do it in the first place? Right,
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So there's that a lot of nerves in this film,
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a lot of point of views, but I feel like
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in the core it's a lot.
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It's a lot like.
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Trying to make shit your own, trying to make sense
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of it at the same time, and the people are
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willing to do that alongside you. You win. You win
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at that as well, and why not do it because
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you only have one life?
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Right?
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What a What an interesting film about life, about aging,
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about how making sense of life, especially through your career.
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My name is Ray salas Are follow me on Morningshell Films,
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IG and YouTube. Check out my website Mornshell Films dot
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c oh you can check out other reviews that I've done.
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They're all out there. Thank you and see you in
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the theater.