Search - Faces on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Not For Children Movie Release: 1968 DVD Release: 04/06/1999 Format: DVD - Black and White,Pan and Scan Edition: Special Collection Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 9 mins Studio: Geneon Members Wishing: 4 Genres: Drama, Psychological Drama, Marriage Drama See Also: Faces [Criterion Collection]

Faces is right: this definitive John Cassavetes film consists almost exclusively of tight, uncomfortable close-ups. It takes place in the fourteenth year of the marriage of Richard (John Marley) and Maria (Lynn Carlin). Neither husband nor wife is content with the conditions that prevail; Maria joins her friends looking for romantic satisfaction elsewhere, while Richard secures the services of a prostitute (Gena Rowlands). Maria herself has a one-night stand with a hippie (Seymour Cassel), but this is no more satisfying than her dead-end marriage. If you think that Faces is an exhausting experience in its current 130-minute length, imagine what it looked like in Cassavetes' original six-hour cut. Alternately clumsy and profound, it is nonetheless a work of deep sincerity, as recognized by the Venice Film Festival, which bestowed no fewer than five awards on the film, and it perfectly exemplifies Cassavetes' improvisational, cinéma vérité style and searching explorations of modern relationships. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Marley - Richard Forst
Gena Rowlands - Jeannie Rapp
Lynn Carlin - Maria Forst
Seymour Cassel - Chet

Besides the standard scene selections, the Pioneer Special Edition DVD of John Cassavetes' gripping 1968 film Faces includes precious few bonuses. There is a pamphlet that contains an excellent analysis of the film by Boston University film studies professor Ray Carney, but nothing beyond that. A word or two on the film's critical reception, or the actors' and director's histories and lives, would have been nice bonuses, but this disc does not even include the standard subtitle options and theatrical trailer. The film is not widescreen, and was recorded in mono, which accounts for the muffled sound on the DVD. Faces is one of the most influential independent films in American cinema history, so it's a shame more care was not taken with this DVD release. ~ Jose Promis, All Movie Guide