POP UP CINEMA BRIGHTON

Originally announced by us back in May, this screening now becomes an unintended tribute to the great Gena Rowlands who sadly passed away on August 14th of this year. One of the great actresses of her, or indeed any other generation, starring in films such as Woody Allen's Another Woman and Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth.

 

This gem of a movie is the product of Rowland's husband and collaborator John Cassavete's. A renowned actor himself (Rosemary's Baby, The Dirty Dozen), Cassavetes was also a revered writer / director and considered a true filmmaker's filmmaker creating such uncompromising classics as Husbands and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. But for both Rowlands and Cassavetes it was their husband & wife collaborations that would become their most successful ventures with dense but highly rewarding masterpieces like Opening Night and A Woman Under The Influence. This film was initially designed by Cassavetes as a commercial script to sell to a major studio for others to make, but when Rowlands was cast, Cassavetes could no longer resist taking on directorial duties.

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A remarkably fascinating crowd-pleaser, Gloria is the most unusual of commercial movies with all the character, style and oddness one might expect from Cassavetes channelled into a heart-warming, dramatic and charming piece of popular cinema. Rowlands, as ever, gives a barn burning performance as a woman who accidentally becomes embroiled in a Mafia beef when her next door neighbour's family is targeted by the mob. Begrudgingly Gloria takes on the family's characterful six year old Phil (a wonderfully idiosyncratic performance from child actor John Adames in his only ever screen role) as the two go on the run and try to avoid a string of gun toting Mafiosos. 

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A fabulously effervescent document of a now lost New York,  bravura camerawork by cinematographer Fred Schuler (who also shot Scorsese's The King of Comedy) captures the raw charm of the city and the film's cast. Don't miss a chance to see Rowlands redefine the so called 'tough broad' female screen presence as she channels the likes of Cagney and Bogart whilst still bringing her own characteristic modern off-beat style to this remarkable landmark one woman tour-de-force.