Love Streams follows middle-aged writer Robert (John Cassavetes) and his sister Sarah (Gena Rowlands), a recently divorced mother with a history of depressions, who together with her daughter Debbie visits ill and dying people. Sarah soon loses her daughter who decides she'd rather stay with her father. Hurt by this event Sarah has to take her trip alone.
Robert lives with a bunch of weird girls in a Playboy mansion style situation, roaming bars in search for subjects to write about. Among the colourful cast of characters he encounters he meets Susan, a black lounge singer with a wonderful voice who he seems to instantly fall for (just before literally falling down the set of stairs to her apartment). Despite his obvious interest in her he struggles and fails to make an emotional connection and things become more complicated for him when an ex of his brings over his son who he hasn't seen since the day he was born.
Just as the kid almost settled in with Robert, Sarah shows up at his place unannounced and the siblings are finally united on screen (followed by one of the most beautiful and tender embraces I have seen in a movie) and the emotional roller-coaster really kicks off.
Both Cassavetes and Rowland are at their best, and all of their scenes together are simply exhilarating. The film is filled with raw emotions, playful moments and surreal dreams and nearly tore me apart in ways I never expected. It's also one of Cassavetes most beautifully shot films (proving that he is not only capable to draw the interior of the soul but also has a painter's eye for the exterior world) "Love Streams" has a way of breaking the fourth wall without directly doing so. Many of the questions Robert poses to the girl he interviews early on could have easily been directed at the audience, same with Sara's psychiatric session. The most fantastic instance of this however is the ending, which has to be one of the most wonderful scenes I have ever seen.
Robert lives with a bunch of weird girls in a Playboy mansion style situation, roaming bars in search for subjects to write about. Among the colourful cast of characters he encounters he meets Susan, a black lounge singer with a wonderful voice who he seems to instantly fall for (just before literally falling down the set of stairs to her apartment). Despite his obvious interest in her he struggles and fails to make an emotional connection and things become more complicated for him when an ex of his brings over his son who he hasn't seen since the day he was born.
Just as the kid almost settled in with Robert, Sarah shows up at his place unannounced and the siblings are finally united on screen (followed by one of the most beautiful and tender embraces I have seen in a movie) and the emotional roller-coaster really kicks off.
Both Cassavetes and Rowland are at their best, and all of their scenes together are simply exhilarating. The film is filled with raw emotions, playful moments and surreal dreams and nearly tore me apart in ways I never expected. It's also one of Cassavetes most beautifully shot films (proving that he is not only capable to draw the interior of the soul but also has a painter's eye for the exterior world) "Love Streams" has a way of breaking the fourth wall without directly doing so. Many of the questions Robert poses to the girl he interviews early on could have easily been directed at the audience, same with Sara's psychiatric session. The most fantastic instance of this however is the ending, which has to be one of the most wonderful scenes I have ever seen.