April 29, 2025 • 22 mins
"Opening Night" is a film about acting and a film about aging. Trying to make sense of a role is hard when you are drowning yourself in alcohol. It's hard to cope with loss when your career is on the line. Gena Rowlands, who plays the lead character, Myrtle, is pure tour de force acting. This film is a masterclass of not only acting but cinema overall. John Cassavetes directed this film and he broke the rules of cinema with this film. It shows that you can do whatever you want however you want as long as you make it sense to yourself. To make something of your own, you gotta make sure it even makes sense. I love that Cassavetes made a film where Rowland's characters went through hard trials and tribulations. In this podcast, I talk about the amazing acting played by Rowlands and the cast included. I talk about how Cassavetes uses the space of not only the stage but the venue itself to create a feel of the audience being there witnessing Rowlands act and as well Cassavetes himself. I also talk about how all this acting and meaning derives from what I feel is a strong screenplay written by Cassavetes. You witness the layers and personalities of the characters and how they work with one another. This is a film where there are sharp turns you gotta be ready for it.
Four out of four tokes.
Four out of four tokes.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning, and this is morning real if I see
and I review it, he's a three to four to
women in the Sol podcast of films that I review
from black and white to color from eighteen eighty nine
to twenty twenty five, you name it, I review it. Anyways,
today I'm very excited to review this film called Opening Night.
(00:24):
It's a nineteen seventy seven American psychological drama film written
and directed by John Cassavitz, Who's jun Kioseovitz.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Listen man.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
John Cassavitz is like a rapper's favorite rapper, but in filmmaking,
so it's a filmmaker's favorite filmmaker. And this guy did
not make a lot of movies in his lifetime. I
mean compared to like, let's just say, Francis vour Coppola,
Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch. He did make a
(00:58):
handful of films, a lot of unproduced work since the
time of his death that has been discovered.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Right, John Cavit Cassovitz is a g man.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
He he is the epitome of an independent filmmaker, an
American independent filmmaker. Just to like put the emphasis on that,
because guess what Man. Like, if this guy had not
existed or maybe just directed maybe like three films and
that's it, we wouldn't have directors like Sean Baker and
(01:34):
Quentin Tarantino, like just off top, because when you look
at this guy's work, especially this film Opening Night, you
see a lot of what Quentin Tarantino would do in
his career, you know, and work on why as well.
I'm pretty sure one car Y studied John Cassovitz, and honestly,
(01:55):
like every filmmaker should study cass of it Its because
he really isn't He really isn't your you're He's just
not your typical movie director. You know. He makes films
about people going through like shit man, whether it's like
a mental breakdown or they're stuck in her place between criminals,
(02:19):
moms and stuff related to that. And honestly, like he
deals with like he touches on race really like puts
women out there. You know, he doesn't make a woman.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
A secondary character.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
In fact, he tries to put women as a as
a primary character. And I just gotta go through the
credits real quick. Anyways, this film Opening Night, it's about
an actress who is trying to make sense of a
play that she is currently working under along with like
(02:53):
other people who are honestly taking this play very serious.
And it's not that she doesn't take it so as
they do. But look, man, when somebody gives you, like,
let's say you're a creative person, right, let's say you're
an actor. Somebody gives you a work, and you're very talented,
you know, even though you have your set of problems, right,
but you're talented, and you have a certain stigma of
(03:15):
certain things as to how a place should be like right,
and like the play that she's working under.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Is basically.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
A play about aging, and she is in middle She's
a middle aged actress, General Rowlands. Generals is the key character.
She plays, this character called Murda Gordon, playing a play
called The Second Woman or Second Woman whatever, right, I mean,
the plot of the film, the plot of the play, look,
(03:46):
doesn't really matter, because the whole point is that she
doesn't get this play. So we get the play, but
she doesn't get it because she herself is having a
hard time trying to like struggled her crisis as a
middle aged person. And it's funny because all the other
(04:06):
actors and screenwriter, director they're all old.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
They're all old.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
All the key cast of characters are old. And it's
funny because Cassavettes during the time of this film, when
he was writing it and directing it, obviously was in
the stage of middle aged nests or whatever. Right, So anyway,
this woman tries to make display her own. She tries
(04:33):
to find something in it where she can just decide like,
you know what, Okay, I gotta be cool with this woman,
and I just gotta take off with it. And eventually
she does.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
But it's a roller coaster of emotions, roller coaster of drama,
not an experimental psychological film. But it's it is melodramatic,
but it's not the type of melodramatic that you would find.
And let's say like a Tyler Perry film where everything's
just overacted. But I would say, like when it comes
(05:04):
to Broadway and all that stuff, I think it's normal
that the actors overact, right, But there's certain screen like
stage playwrights who don't want that type of stuff. They
want to stick to the script. And in this particular film,
the director wanted Myrtle Gordon to stick to the script
(05:24):
as much as she can and.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
It's funny because the play was written by a woman.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
So there's these like there's this not a consensus or discourse,
but all these characters play certain roles that kind of
like stab at the notion of age and aging, you know,
and what their positions in their life are and what
(05:51):
their worth is. And each character kind of puts it
out there, you know. The director puts it out there.
After a night of like of rehearsing, all he doesn't
All he just wants to do is come home, have
a nightcap with his wife.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
And go to bed.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
But this guy is stuck having received phone calls of
Myrtle pretty much kind of like seeking that attention. But
it's not like on purpose.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It's just that she's it's like she can't manage who
she is.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And then she's an alcoholic as well, and that plays
a big.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Big part in the film.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Overall. It's it's a wild film, man, But I love
this film, and a lot of a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Of people don't.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Really this is like a weak Cassavettes film. A lot
of people would tend to agree that it's a week
because there's not much of an ending per se in
this film. And I'm not gonna spoil the ending, and
I'm gonna tell you how it ends. You can kind
of see where it goes and how it.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Ends once she wants.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Once you watch the film, I gotta say I was.
I was very intrigued by its ending because how I
see it, you know, besides, like the actual plot is concerned.
I mean, this woman is really trying to get through
this play as much as she can. And it's funny
because like, it's not like she has a it's not
(07:20):
like she has no choice.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
She can quit if she wants, but it's it's sort
of that thing where like.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And she and she mentions it in the film with
like with the tell the stage playwright right played by
who plays her John Blondell. She plays the stage playwright
called Sarah Good. She writes this film it's about aging,
and obviously you can tell. And you know, it's common
(07:50):
in the field, in the heart of filmmaking, where the
writer puts a lot of himself or herself or themselves
in the actual product. You know, I'm pretty sure when
Quentin Tarantino wrote Reservoir Dogs, it put a whole freaking
life there, you know, even though he's never experienced crime,
he's never been in a mob type of environment or whatever,
(08:13):
at least I don't know he has or whatnot. But
put yourself there. You put a lot of yourself there,
and I'm pretty sure Sarah put a lot of herself there.
But Mirta just doesn't. She can't put herself there, and
she doesn't make like this point where I'm not as
old as you are, So how can I even possibly
(08:36):
understand you as a woman of your age? No disrespect,
And Sarah isn't the type of mindset was just like
you think I care, dude, Like, isn't that the point
of acting to like pretend to embody yourself as the
character because you are selling something that hundreds of people
(08:56):
are gonna watch you do, and low key hi key,
they're expecting greatness. Anything you put out you're obviously going
to expect, especially when it comes to like entertainment in
regards in anything in entertainment, you expect it to be the.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Greatest thing ever. And you have to repeat the greatest thing.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Ever again and again and again. In this particular play,
Marle just can't do it.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
She just can't.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
It's like she can't see where she could stand along
with the character that she's playing, and not only that man,
like after the like maybe like the first night or
two of rehearsals, she gets out right and everybody's like.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Oh my god, you're the best. Oh my god, I
can't live without you.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
And there's this one fan who like literally throws herself
onto Mermal and cries and like doesn't want to let
go over her wants to like just be attached to
her because maybe that's like the only thing that makes
sense to her, because I think that's what Jenner Rowlands,
(10:02):
who plays Myrtle Gordon, is trying to make sense of
this play and of herself, like, you know, I'm doing this.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I've been doing this for a long time.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
You know. I want to put myself out there. Acting
is what gets my kicks going, you know. And she
said something like that herself, you know, to Sarah Good,
like I get a kick out of acting, Like it's just.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I just can't. I just can't.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
It's just weird, like I gotta I don't know. And
then anyways, the chick the fan tries to you know,
just not only get her autographs in, but just wants
to like live through her right, and comes to the
point where she's like on her knees and she can't
(10:46):
get up. It's like she's lost control of her own self.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And it's crazy because Myrtle.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Loses control of her own self a couple of times
throughout the film. And it's man, I just gotta say this,
man like General Rowland recently passed away.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
She lived a long age.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
She's done a bunch of films since being with Castlebets, Right,
I mean she did The Notebook, playing the like the
primary not the like playing the older version of Rachel
McAdams's character. You know, like she plays the like I
guess the present you know of that character, right, And man, dude,
(11:29):
like one of the first films that I've seen General
Rowlands in honestly is The Notebook. And I remember seeing
The Notebook like maybe like.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Ten years after it came out.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And then when you're watching it from like a different
perspective of life as you're older, right, and you see
this character, but you see the woman behind the character, right,
and you're like, dude, that's General Rowlands and she's still
it's not like she's playing again another role of a
woman breaking down. But like it makes sense how a
(12:04):
person like General Rowlans can like embody a role like
that or embody a similar role and play it to
a t and honestly man like it's it. It's not difficult,
but at the same time, it's not easy to play
women who are under any type of distress. But general
(12:26):
Rowles does it so good, especially in Opening Night, Like
you can see this this person embodying a character who's
trying to figure herself out along with people who are like.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
They're not very.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
The most encouraging of people, right, But then again it's
like this woe is an alcoholic, She's fucking everything up, dude,
Like she can't even like like maintain herself to get
slapped by her co star. But like, you know, because
this is gonna be live on stage, right, they're gonna
(13:06):
there's gonna there is going to be violence. You know,
there's gonna be some type of battery or a man
is going to legitimately harm a woman with an open
hand slab but not even using the palm, using the fingers, right,
And this is very directly, this is very carefully directed, right,
especially if by being Gazara playing many Victor who's the
(13:29):
director of the play. And then I'm not seeing a
lot of ban Gazara to see him play a you know,
a play director or whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Man, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Fun seeing him now, but it's it's it's great to
see him put himself out there, you know, as a character.
But yeah, all these people who surround Myrtle honestly not
the best people to surround themselves to kind of they're
kind of dicks, man Like. Then again, at the same time,
(14:00):
is like everybody has a role, right even to the personnel,
like the rip lighting staff all that stuff. Man, Like
they're doing a job.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
They're they're hired, they're getting paid or he's trying to
get paid. Good, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
And then comes in this chick, Myrtle Gordon, who's just
unstable and it's kind of like not her fault, man,
because towards the like in the first act of the film,
like she witnesses a car crash with that fan, Like
she sees that fan. Well I don't know if she
sees her or not, but that fan does get killed,
(14:40):
like gets killed by a car, and it haunts her
and the haunts her throughout the whole film to the
point where she needs to see a spiritualist. And it's
funny because that's the only time where Sarah Good is
actually good to Myrtle, Like she actually tries to help
her out, because you know, after hearing her soul and
all that stuff, just like, okay, you know what, let's
(15:02):
try this. And I gotta say, man from a screenwriting
point of view, especially like you know, you don't want
to say just some plain old film about a woman
breaking down. There's got to be reasons for it. There's
got to be some type of drive. The stakes are high,
and they got to get higher. And here you are
watching Myrtle and Sarah go to a spiritualist's home or
(15:26):
workshop or whatnot. They try to do a seance. And
it's kind of hard to tell whether if we are
watching the woman who died or is it really Myrtle
watching it and we're just getting a perspective of her.
(15:47):
It's kind of very difficult to kind of it's kind
of very difficult to kind of get the head wrapped
onto that. But it works for her, it works for
the screenplay because you gott to push something forward, right,
like this film is about a woman actress trying to
get your shit together, right, which is like kind of
(16:08):
very hard to do.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And it's funny because like, if you're drinking, you're trying
to just cope with the trauma. Obviously that's not gonna help.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
But it's a fun right to see this film fun
right to see general and is playing Mortal Gordon.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
She really pulls it off.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Man. I like the way they touch the subject of aging,
touch the subject of acting and aging at the same time.
It's a really good film. I'm not really into Broadway
or plays, but when you watch something like this, it's
funny because the way Cassovitz shoots the the play scenes,
(16:48):
it's obviously from kind of like from the audience's point
of view, right like, and it's from different angles as well.
And I love how he uses the space, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
And it was film that the.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Pasadena Civic Auditorium, which is kind of really cool to
know that this film was shot, like shit, like less
than ten miles from where I live. You know, it's
kind of nice to see that a director can pull
something like that off, you know. But anyways, the way
he can use that much space, you know, to like
let the actress be free. And even though this is
(17:20):
a fucking play, any film that we're watching. It's fun
to see how actors coming gether, come together and just
act their asses off.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
And there's a point in this.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Film where Myrtle comes up to Maurice Aarons, who play
who is played by John Cassavettz. And it's crazy because
it's fun to see like directors starring their films. And yeah,
there's something that don't really do a good job like
no Offense dude, Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino. They're not,
(17:54):
but they're not supposed to be right.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
They're just they're just trying to move the story forward.
That's the whole point, whether it's shitty or not. The
cast of its man in this film.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Man like talk about breaking the fourth fall, talk about
breaking the foundations of filmmaking, the core foundations of filmmaking,
and just like let her rip and make.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
It his own.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
He himself, as a filmmaker, is trying to understand or
try to put it understanding, try to put his own
thing onto a project like this, and.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Could it work? I believe it did work.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Now, Like I said in the beginning of all this,
not a lot of people like this film because it
felt like it didn't really go too much anywhere. But
I mean, the whole plot of the film really, to
me at least, is this woman trying to fucking get
through this play, get through the opening night period and
guess what she did that.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Now, did she pull it off or not?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
That's really up to the viewer to the side. Now
in the film, there is a consensus. And you know,
when you're watching a shitty film. People love shitty films
and people don't like shitty films. But when you sit
on in the theater and you watch a shitty play
(19:20):
going on and you don't even know it, but you're
rooting for it because to you, it just makes sense.
And I feel like that's what John cassabiszs Strona inquire
upon that, like, there are some things even if it's crap,
if it makes sense to you, if you love it
and applaud it and all that stuff, then then that
person won. Jenna Rowland's one, and she continues to keep
(19:45):
on winning up until the time of her passing.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
You know, but.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
If anybody's trying to get into acting or loves to
see films with women driven roles, you will never be
disappointed with General Rowlands. She is one of a kind
female actor Dad, even to this day, there hasn't been.
It's not that you can't become General Rowlands or become
(20:12):
like General Rowlands, but this woman, like with all the
handful of films that she's been in, every one of them,
she put her one hundred percent self out there and
you can never get enough. Honestly, you kind of want
to watch the film again, and not from like a critic.
(20:33):
The critic comes out in you sometimes, but like when
you're watching it as a fan, as like seeing a
person just be as free as they can in filmmaking,
and then like Broadway and all that stuff, to see
it happen, no holds bar and trying and having them
make sense of it for themselves, like what more do
(20:56):
you want? I think the film wins, and as far
as the third actors concerned, I think it just wins
just by the fact that she got through the fucking
play to some dismay of certain people, but she won man.
And that's funny because like people don't really like when
you got something going on, like something that's brutal to
(21:17):
you going through a bad situation, but you got a
project that you got to like make sure that you
deliver it because there's hundreds of people who are kind
of basically.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Make like they're pulling.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
They're putting it all on you in a sense, they're
just putting it.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
All on you, and.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
You just gotta do it because otherwise, like what was
the point even trying to do it in the first place? Right,
So there's that a lot of nerves in this film,
a lot of point of views, but I feel like
in the core it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
It's a lot like.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Trying to make shit your own, trying to make sense
of it at the same time, and the people are
willing to do that alongside you. You win. You win
at that as well, and why not do it because
you only have one life?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Right?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
What a What an interesting film about life, about aging,
about how making sense of life, especially through your career.
My name is Ray salas Are follow me on Morningshell Films,
IG and YouTube. Check out my website Mornshell Films dot
c oh you can check out other reviews that I've done.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
They're all out there. Thank you and see you in
the theater.
Good morning, and this is morning real if I see
and I review it, he's a three to four to
women in the Sol podcast of films that I review
from black and white to color from eighteen eighty nine
to twenty twenty five, you name it, I review it. Anyways,
today I'm very excited to review this film called Opening Night.
(00:24):
It's a nineteen seventy seven American psychological drama film written
and directed by John Cassavitz, Who's jun Kioseovitz.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Listen man.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
John Cassavitz is like a rapper's favorite rapper, but in filmmaking,
so it's a filmmaker's favorite filmmaker. And this guy did
not make a lot of movies in his lifetime. I
mean compared to like, let's just say, Francis vour Coppola,
Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch. He did make a
(00:58):
handful of films, a lot of unproduced work since the
time of his death that has been discovered.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Right, John Cavit Cassovitz is a g man.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
He he is the epitome of an independent filmmaker, an
American independent filmmaker. Just to like put the emphasis on that,
because guess what Man. Like, if this guy had not
existed or maybe just directed maybe like three films and
that's it, we wouldn't have directors like Sean Baker and
(01:34):
Quentin Tarantino, like just off top, because when you look
at this guy's work, especially this film Opening Night, you
see a lot of what Quentin Tarantino would do in
his career, you know, and work on why as well.
I'm pretty sure one car Y studied John Cassovitz, and honestly,
(01:55):
like every filmmaker should study cass of it Its because
he really isn't He really isn't your you're He's just
not your typical movie director. You know. He makes films
about people going through like shit man, whether it's like
a mental breakdown or they're stuck in her place between criminals,
(02:19):
moms and stuff related to that. And honestly, like he
deals with like he touches on race really like puts
women out there. You know, he doesn't make a woman.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
A secondary character.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
In fact, he tries to put women as a as
a primary character. And I just gotta go through the
credits real quick. Anyways, this film Opening Night, it's about
an actress who is trying to make sense of a
play that she is currently working under along with like
(02:53):
other people who are honestly taking this play very serious.
And it's not that she doesn't take it so as
they do. But look, man, when somebody gives you, like,
let's say you're a creative person, right, let's say you're
an actor. Somebody gives you a work, and you're very talented,
you know, even though you have your set of problems, right,
but you're talented, and you have a certain stigma of
(03:15):
certain things as to how a place should be like right,
and like the play that she's working under.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Is basically.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
A play about aging, and she is in middle She's
a middle aged actress, General Rowlands. Generals is the key character.
She plays, this character called Murda Gordon, playing a play
called The Second Woman or Second Woman whatever, right, I mean,
the plot of the film, the plot of the play, look,
(03:46):
doesn't really matter, because the whole point is that she
doesn't get this play. So we get the play, but
she doesn't get it because she herself is having a
hard time trying to like struggled her crisis as a
middle aged person. And it's funny because all the other
(04:06):
actors and screenwriter, director they're all old.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
They're all old.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
All the key cast of characters are old. And it's
funny because Cassavettes during the time of this film, when
he was writing it and directing it, obviously was in
the stage of middle aged nests or whatever. Right, So anyway,
this woman tries to make display her own. She tries
(04:33):
to find something in it where she can just decide like,
you know what, Okay, I gotta be cool with this woman,
and I just gotta take off with it. And eventually
she does.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
But it's a roller coaster of emotions, roller coaster of drama,
not an experimental psychological film. But it's it is melodramatic,
but it's not the type of melodramatic that you would find.
And let's say like a Tyler Perry film where everything's
just overacted. But I would say, like when it comes
(05:04):
to Broadway and all that stuff, I think it's normal
that the actors overact, right, But there's certain screen like
stage playwrights who don't want that type of stuff. They
want to stick to the script. And in this particular film,
the director wanted Myrtle Gordon to stick to the script
(05:24):
as much as she can and.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
It's funny because the play was written by a woman.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
So there's these like there's this not a consensus or discourse,
but all these characters play certain roles that kind of
like stab at the notion of age and aging, you know,
and what their positions in their life are and what
(05:51):
their worth is. And each character kind of puts it
out there, you know. The director puts it out there.
After a night of like of rehearsing, all he doesn't
All he just wants to do is come home, have
a nightcap with his wife.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
And go to bed.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
But this guy is stuck having received phone calls of
Myrtle pretty much kind of like seeking that attention. But
it's not like on purpose.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It's just that she's it's like she can't manage who
she is.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And then she's an alcoholic as well, and that plays
a big.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Big part in the film.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Overall. It's it's a wild film, man, But I love
this film, and a lot of a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Of people don't.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Really this is like a weak Cassavettes film. A lot
of people would tend to agree that it's a week
because there's not much of an ending per se in
this film. And I'm not gonna spoil the ending, and
I'm gonna tell you how it ends. You can kind
of see where it goes and how it.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Ends once she wants.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Once you watch the film, I gotta say I was.
I was very intrigued by its ending because how I
see it, you know, besides, like the actual plot is concerned.
I mean, this woman is really trying to get through
this play as much as she can. And it's funny
because like, it's not like she has a it's not
(07:20):
like she has no choice.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
She can quit if she wants, but it's it's sort
of that thing where like.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And she and she mentions it in the film with
like with the tell the stage playwright right played by
who plays her John Blondell. She plays the stage playwright
called Sarah Good. She writes this film it's about aging,
and obviously you can tell. And you know, it's common
(07:50):
in the field, in the heart of filmmaking, where the
writer puts a lot of himself or herself or themselves
in the actual product. You know, I'm pretty sure when
Quentin Tarantino wrote Reservoir Dogs, it put a whole freaking
life there, you know, even though he's never experienced crime,
he's never been in a mob type of environment or whatever,
(08:13):
at least I don't know he has or whatnot. But
put yourself there. You put a lot of yourself there,
and I'm pretty sure Sarah put a lot of herself there.
But Mirta just doesn't. She can't put herself there, and
she doesn't make like this point where I'm not as
old as you are, So how can I even possibly
(08:36):
understand you as a woman of your age? No disrespect,
And Sarah isn't the type of mindset was just like
you think I care, dude, Like, isn't that the point
of acting to like pretend to embody yourself as the
character because you are selling something that hundreds of people
(08:56):
are gonna watch you do, and low key hi key,
they're expecting greatness. Anything you put out you're obviously going
to expect, especially when it comes to like entertainment in
regards in anything in entertainment, you expect it to be the.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Greatest thing ever. And you have to repeat the greatest thing.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Ever again and again and again. In this particular play,
Marle just can't do it.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
She just can't.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
It's like she can't see where she could stand along
with the character that she's playing, and not only that man,
like after the like maybe like the first night or
two of rehearsals, she gets out right and everybody's like.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Oh my god, you're the best. Oh my god, I
can't live without you.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
And there's this one fan who like literally throws herself
onto Mermal and cries and like doesn't want to let
go over her wants to like just be attached to
her because maybe that's like the only thing that makes
sense to her, because I think that's what Jenner Rowlands,
(10:02):
who plays Myrtle Gordon, is trying to make sense of
this play and of herself, like, you know, I'm doing this.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I've been doing this for a long time.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
You know. I want to put myself out there. Acting
is what gets my kicks going, you know. And she
said something like that herself, you know, to Sarah Good,
like I get a kick out of acting, Like it's just.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I just can't. I just can't.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
It's just weird, like I gotta I don't know. And
then anyways, the chick the fan tries to you know,
just not only get her autographs in, but just wants
to like live through her right, and comes to the
point where she's like on her knees and she can't
(10:46):
get up. It's like she's lost control of her own self.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And it's crazy because Myrtle.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Loses control of her own self a couple of times
throughout the film. And it's man, I just gotta say this,
man like General Rowland recently passed away.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
She lived a long age.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
She's done a bunch of films since being with Castlebets, Right,
I mean she did The Notebook, playing the like the
primary not the like playing the older version of Rachel
McAdams's character. You know, like she plays the like I
guess the present you know of that character, right, And man, dude,
(11:29):
like one of the first films that I've seen General
Rowlands in honestly is The Notebook. And I remember seeing
The Notebook like maybe like.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Ten years after it came out.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And then when you're watching it from like a different
perspective of life as you're older, right, and you see
this character, but you see the woman behind the character, right,
and you're like, dude, that's General Rowlands and she's still
it's not like she's playing again another role of a
woman breaking down. But like it makes sense how a
(12:04):
person like General Rowlans can like embody a role like
that or embody a similar role and play it to
a t and honestly man like it's it. It's not difficult,
but at the same time, it's not easy to play
women who are under any type of distress. But general
(12:26):
Rowles does it so good, especially in Opening Night, Like
you can see this this person embodying a character who's
trying to figure herself out along with people who are like.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
They're not very.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
The most encouraging of people, right, But then again it's
like this woe is an alcoholic, She's fucking everything up, dude,
Like she can't even like like maintain herself to get
slapped by her co star. But like, you know, because
this is gonna be live on stage, right, they're gonna
(13:06):
there's gonna there is going to be violence. You know,
there's gonna be some type of battery or a man
is going to legitimately harm a woman with an open
hand slab but not even using the palm, using the fingers, right,
And this is very directly, this is very carefully directed, right,
especially if by being Gazara playing many Victor who's the
(13:29):
director of the play. And then I'm not seeing a
lot of ban Gazara to see him play a you know,
a play director or whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Man, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Fun seeing him now, but it's it's it's great to
see him put himself out there, you know, as a character.
But yeah, all these people who surround Myrtle honestly not
the best people to surround themselves to kind of they're
kind of dicks, man Like. Then again, at the same time,
(14:00):
is like everybody has a role, right even to the personnel,
like the rip lighting staff all that stuff. Man, Like
they're doing a job.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
They're they're hired, they're getting paid or he's trying to
get paid. Good, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
And then comes in this chick, Myrtle Gordon, who's just
unstable and it's kind of like not her fault, man,
because towards the like in the first act of the film,
like she witnesses a car crash with that fan, Like
she sees that fan. Well I don't know if she
sees her or not, but that fan does get killed,
(14:40):
like gets killed by a car, and it haunts her
and the haunts her throughout the whole film to the
point where she needs to see a spiritualist. And it's
funny because that's the only time where Sarah Good is
actually good to Myrtle, Like she actually tries to help
her out, because you know, after hearing her soul and
all that stuff, just like, okay, you know what, let's
(15:02):
try this. And I gotta say, man from a screenwriting
point of view, especially like you know, you don't want
to say just some plain old film about a woman
breaking down. There's got to be reasons for it. There's
got to be some type of drive. The stakes are high,
and they got to get higher. And here you are
watching Myrtle and Sarah go to a spiritualist's home or
(15:26):
workshop or whatnot. They try to do a seance. And
it's kind of hard to tell whether if we are
watching the woman who died or is it really Myrtle
watching it and we're just getting a perspective of her.
(15:47):
It's kind of very difficult to kind of it's kind
of very difficult to kind of get the head wrapped
onto that. But it works for her, it works for
the screenplay because you gott to push something forward, right,
like this film is about a woman actress trying to
get your shit together, right, which is like kind of
(16:08):
very hard to do.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And it's funny because like, if you're drinking, you're trying
to just cope with the trauma. Obviously that's not gonna help.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
But it's a fun right to see this film fun
right to see general and is playing Mortal Gordon.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
She really pulls it off.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Man. I like the way they touch the subject of aging,
touch the subject of acting and aging at the same time.
It's a really good film. I'm not really into Broadway
or plays, but when you watch something like this, it's
funny because the way Cassovitz shoots the the play scenes,
(16:48):
it's obviously from kind of like from the audience's point
of view, right like, and it's from different angles as well.
And I love how he uses the space, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
And it was film that the.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Pasadena Civic Auditorium, which is kind of really cool to
know that this film was shot, like shit, like less
than ten miles from where I live. You know, it's
kind of nice to see that a director can pull
something like that off, you know. But anyways, the way
he can use that much space, you know, to like
let the actress be free. And even though this is
(17:20):
a fucking play, any film that we're watching. It's fun
to see how actors coming gether, come together and just
act their asses off.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
And there's a point in this.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Film where Myrtle comes up to Maurice Aarons, who play
who is played by John Cassavettz. And it's crazy because
it's fun to see like directors starring their films. And yeah,
there's something that don't really do a good job like
no Offense dude, Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino. They're not,
(17:54):
but they're not supposed to be right.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
They're just they're just trying to move the story forward.
That's the whole point, whether it's shitty or not. The
cast of its man in this film.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Man like talk about breaking the fourth fall, talk about
breaking the foundations of filmmaking, the core foundations of filmmaking,
and just like let her rip and make.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
It his own.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
He himself, as a filmmaker, is trying to understand or
try to put it understanding, try to put his own
thing onto a project like this, and.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Could it work? I believe it did work.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Now, Like I said in the beginning of all this,
not a lot of people like this film because it
felt like it didn't really go too much anywhere. But
I mean, the whole plot of the film really, to
me at least, is this woman trying to fucking get
through this play, get through the opening night period and
guess what she did that.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Now, did she pull it off or not?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
That's really up to the viewer to the side. Now
in the film, there is a consensus. And you know,
when you're watching a shitty film. People love shitty films
and people don't like shitty films. But when you sit
on in the theater and you watch a shitty play
(19:20):
going on and you don't even know it, but you're
rooting for it because to you, it just makes sense.
And I feel like that's what John cassabiszs Strona inquire
upon that, like, there are some things even if it's crap,
if it makes sense to you, if you love it
and applaud it and all that stuff, then then that
person won. Jenna Rowland's one, and she continues to keep
(19:45):
on winning up until the time of her passing.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
You know, but.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
If anybody's trying to get into acting or loves to
see films with women driven roles, you will never be
disappointed with General Rowlands. She is one of a kind
female actor Dad, even to this day, there hasn't been.
It's not that you can't become General Rowlands or become
(20:12):
like General Rowlands, but this woman, like with all the
handful of films that she's been in, every one of them,
she put her one hundred percent self out there and
you can never get enough. Honestly, you kind of want
to watch the film again, and not from like a critic.
(20:33):
The critic comes out in you sometimes, but like when
you're watching it as a fan, as like seeing a
person just be as free as they can in filmmaking,
and then like Broadway and all that stuff, to see
it happen, no holds bar and trying and having them
make sense of it for themselves, like what more do
(20:56):
you want? I think the film wins, and as far
as the third actors concerned, I think it just wins
just by the fact that she got through the fucking
play to some dismay of certain people, but she won man.
And that's funny because like people don't really like when
you got something going on, like something that's brutal to
(21:17):
you going through a bad situation, but you got a
project that you got to like make sure that you
deliver it because there's hundreds of people who are kind
of basically.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Make like they're pulling.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
They're putting it all on you in a sense, they're
just putting it.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
All on you, and.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
You just gotta do it because otherwise, like what was
the point even trying to do it in the first place? Right,
So there's that a lot of nerves in this film,
a lot of point of views, but I feel like
in the core it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
It's a lot like.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Trying to make shit your own, trying to make sense
of it at the same time, and the people are
willing to do that alongside you. You win. You win
at that as well, and why not do it because
you only have one life?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Right?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
What a What an interesting film about life, about aging,
about how making sense of life, especially through your career.
My name is Ray salas Are follow me on Morningshell Films,
IG and YouTube. Check out my website Mornshell Films dot
c oh you can check out other reviews that I've done.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
They're all out there. Thank you and see you in
the theater.
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