We start with John Cassavetes and A Woman Under the Influence. As one of the preeminent independent filmmakers of the 1970s, Cassavetes made films built on emotional candor. This is probably his magnum opus and most beloved work as a filmmaker. His depiction of a suburban housewife experiencing an emotional breakdown is like watching wind chimes clatter during a tropical storm. Full of wild turns as the air changes direction. Mabel (Gena Rowlands) and Nick (Peter Falk) are a married couple in turmoil. She has an intrusive quality that he can no longer accept, and Nick’s own sensitivity causes him to get enraged. Particularly, in the company of his work colleagues. He feels ashamed that he can’t accept Mabel as she is and embarrassment with her unconventional behavior. Neither is in the wrong for acting as they do. Yes, Nick gets rough at times. But it is out of love. Sounds like deflection, right?
Thinking about how I reacted at times while my mother suffered with dementia, Nick’s inability to comprehend Mabel’s idiosyncrasies is not unexpected. His adoration is tantamount to his wavering between desiring Mabel and wanting her to suppress her behaviors. Many minutes are spent trying to talk Mabel down and subdue her long enough so she can be taken to get professional help at an institution. Six months later Mabel returns home. The spontaneity that existed in the first half is replaced with an air of aloofness. Mabel is withdrawn but with an understanding of how she is expected to behave. Nick appears elated with her arrival, yet also frightened with her restrained behavior. Then it is back to where we started once she snaps out if it and his aggravation creeps back.
A Woman Under the Influence is a marriage story but in the hands of John Cassavetes it is an exploration of chaos; the ways in which emotional demands and social forces inflict damage upon one another rendering those who can’t conform into their own caste. It is a profound piece of cinema, and yet I felt myself become detached watching all the shouting and emotional outbursts. The rawness and direct approach made it difficult to endure in a single sitting. (The 147 minute runtime also didn’t help.) Cassavetes’s cinéma vérité direction creates an unbearable atmosphere as Nick hovers over Mabel like flies drawn to food at a picnic.
If there is any sanity to be had it is in the form of Nick and Mabel’s children. Even as they move around in scenes without restraint they are the ones keeping the parents sane. It’s when the children are not in the same room that the couple is pushed out of comfort and into chaos. That is when the drama becomes devastating.
I applaud John Cassavetes for sidestepping sentimentality in favor of reality. The camera captures them as they are and without the restraint. The story never truly ends, nor does it truly begin. It just is.
Gena Rowlands’ towering performance as Mabel is the reason why you should give A Woman Under the Influence a spin. Even if the film as a whole didn’t work for me, the performance Rowlands gives is staggering. And Peter Falk’s Nick is so far removed from his work as Columbo that you almost forget he can play characters without a beige raincoat and rumpled suit. Rowlands may be a tough act to follow, but Falk gives causality to all that transpires. He’s overworked and keeps failing to be a good husband and father. Nick means well and is capable with dealing with hard things, only he’s no longer as the man he used to be.
In 2013, Criterion released a filmmaker’s box set (“John Cassavetes: Five Films”) containing A Woman Under the Influence and four other works, so it is odd that the film get a solo Blu-ray release thirteen years later with no 4K UHD release. To my knowledge, it is the same video and audio transfer. All the extras from the Influence Blu-ray have been ported over. They include an audio commentary with sound recordist and composer Bo Harwood and camera operator Michael Ferris; a 2004 conversation with actors Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands; and an archival audio interview with Cassavetes. Rounding out the extras are the film’s trailer, production stills, and a booklet that includes a 1975 interview with Cassavetes and an essay by critic and filmmaker Kent Jones.
A generation removed from A Woman Under the Influence we have Edward Yang’s Yi Yi, an epic story about a family dealing with love and loss over the course of one year. Bookended by a wedding and a funeral, Yang’s final film revolves around the Jian family as seen through three different perspectives. There is the middle-aged father NJ (Wu Nien-jen) flirting with an old flame and questioning why he abandoned her. His youngest son, Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang), is teased by girls at his school and he takes pictures at odd angles (mostly the back of people’s heads or backsides) as a form of rebellion. Not to be risque but to show others what they cannot see.
The family matriarch, NJ’s mother-in-law (Tang Ru-yun), is seen briefly in the film’s opening only to suddenly suffer a debilitating stroke and go into a coma. The family takes turns reading and talking to her, sharing things they most likely would keep quiet about. This includes NJ’s daughter, Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee). Like her father, she is also considering cheating, with her best friend’s boyfriend, Fatty (Yupang Chang). The act only gets as far as checking into a love hotel, but Fatty doesn’t like the aesthetic. And just like that the rush of doing something wrong pushes you back towards the side of right.
Yi Yi is for audiences tired of the romantic decisions that propagate most American films. I’m thinking specifically of cause-and-effect plot points when it comes to decision making. Little time or effort is left for thought. That’s OK if you are Tom Cruise piloting a fighter jet and dispensing out sage advice like “Trust your instincts. Don’t think. Just do.” Human emotion is different. You need time and breadth. More sensibility, less superficiality.
Yang makes some directorial choices with camera and shot placement that evoke a stillness in the actions taking place. I didn’t pick up on those decisions at the time, but the lack of heart in these scenes is matched with ripples of laughter involving young Yang-Yang as a prankster with making water balloons only to hit the wrong person from high above and scamper away. He is by far my favorite character, showing quite a bit of maturity from being teased at the wedding opener to delivering final remarks at his grandmother’s funeral.
Yi Yi remains a sprawling family epic about life and the unexciting and catastrophic occurrences therein. Definitely universal in its subject, but customs and traditions are far different and Yang’s approach may be too dilatory for audiences wanting faster resolutions. I feel this. I also find it can be harder to connect with cinema that is culturally significant when viewed from a distance. Doesn’t matter if it is from Hollywood’s golden age, France’s new wave, or even a low budget independent production. While I can respect the craftsmanship and understand the love and appreciation people have for it, my own enjoyment is another matter.
Still, for cinema charlatans, both A Woman Under the Influence and Yi Yi are worth the gamble.
Originally released on Blu-ray in 2011, the new 4K UHD release of Yi Yi offers better sharpness when Yang uses deep focus compositions. All of the extras have been ported over, including a commentary between Edward Yang and critic Tony Rayns. In a separate interview, Rayns discusses the broader reach of the New Taiwan Cinema Movement – a five year period in the 1980s where Yang and other young filmmakers made films about the realities of everyday life – including the thematic and aesthetic qualities of these films. The package is rounded out with the U.S. theatrical trailer and a booklet essay by critic Kent Jones and notes from Yang.
A Woman Under the Influence
Film Grade: C
Gena Rowlands’ Performance: A+
Yi Yi
Grade: B
