Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Boris_Day Love Streams feels like the last in an unofficial trilogy of films where Gena Rowlands played "women under the influence" for Cassavetes. Like in A Woman Under the Influence she plays a woman who appears to love too much and feel too intensely, which alienates her from her family. As with Opening Night Cassavetes departs further from his naturalistic , hanheld camera style and he gives us a view of the inside workings of his protagonists mind. We see things only Rowlands' characters see. Unlike with the two earlier films, here gets a kindred spirit in Cassavetes' equally troubled character.For the first half the film cuts back and forth between two protagonists, one a womanising, insomniac alcoholic writer, the other a just divorced mother with mental health issues. Having lost custody of her daughter, she returns from a manic jaunt round Europe. Cassavetes and Rowlands characters meet an hour into the film (the nature or their relationship doesn't become clear till later) and they both increasingly lose control, till it all ends with a small menagerie of animals and a surreal musical sequence worthy of David Lynch.Absolutely amazing and never miserable as it's also darkly funny and ultimately a strangely hopeful film. A sequence where Cassavetes' absent father is asked to look after his eight year old son for a day by one of his ex-wives, gets the kid drunk and takes him to Vegas is an appalling, yet wickedly funny depiction of truly terrible parenting.Rowlands is one of the greatest of all screen actors and she is still criminally underrated. She played emotionally/mentally vulnerable women without a shred of sentimentality or self-pity. There is a defiant toughness to her characters which makes her as electrifying as Brando at his best. Despite playing several characters with mental health issues for Cassavetes, she never allowed herself to come across as victimised. Awards voters love an obvious victim turn, so this may be why she's never been properly recognised by the Academy. Here she plays a woman who loves too much, which becomes too much to deal with for everyone but Cassavetes' equally damaged character. With an actress who would have made less interesting choicest, this could have come off as maudlin but Rowlands' performance undermines any emotional vanity or sign-posting. She never tells you how you should feel about her characters, which is what makes her so compelling.Cassavetes too gives a fantastic performance. The characters in his films feel so alive and unpredictable, there is constant tension, it feels like anything could happen. Cassavetes, the godfather of the American indie film, at this point had abandoned the cinema verite style he had basically invented. The film has a dreamlike quality, features a shape shifting dog and ends with a mini-opera.

doncoward This movie is a bit dated but it is really great. The acting by the two stars in this, Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes, is superb. Both of them may give their best performances in this. It is a dramatic movie and dramatic roles for both of them but there is also a lot of comedy and both of them delivery which is odd considering neither especially Cassavetes is known for doing any kind of comedy at all. I see there are awards won here and that is great I am frankly surprised there were no Oscars handed out to this, but the Oscars have long been against comedy films unless they are too huge to ignore. Check this movie out if you haven't seen it!

shadowycat In the early days of movies on cable, they used to air the same movie repeatedly over the course of a month, as if it was a film with daily showings at a movie house.Although LOVE STREAMS barely scratched at a theatrical release, it did find its way onto cable, and I came upon it by sheer serendipity. And I was captivated, going on to watch it 10 or 12 times before its run was up. I have not seen this film since (I saw it on cable in 1984) but I remember it vividly.I generally don't write 'spoiler' IMDb comments, but this film is destination cinema, you will watch this film because you elect to do so, and as such (and likely as a serious film buff or student of cinema) you will not mind hearing comments in advance to point out devices or moments of note.My favorite scene is the one where Gena Rowland's character announces that she's going to Europe - on her own. That's significant because she's so utterly out of control, you fear for her.There is a scene at the airport. It is easy to envision how this looked in the script... /cut to THE AIRPORT. The filmmakers have no budget. There is an absolutely blank interior stage. To indicate that we're at the airport, there is a simple length of tall chain link fencing. Standing near the fence, GENA ROWLANDS is poised expectantly, waiting alone - nearly dwarfed by a comically huge and chaotic pile of luggage. She is attempting to hire a porter, but the porter does not speak any English.PORTER Sorry Madame, I do not speak English.GENA Just listen to the sound of my voice. You *will* understand me.* * *That's it. What I love about this film is that the airport scene is played exactly as it might have been played on the stage, and in context of the film, it works. There's no airport. But as you watch the scene, you are there. Stage to screen and yet again stage... and it works.* * *This film is about relationship, and relationships. It is stunning work and deserves to be seen.

acmebooks having seen and studied all of cassavete's films repeatedly i must say this is my favorite and one of his very best. there is such a wonderful array of emotions going on here and complex character development. we have his amazing camera, the stunning long takes of faces smiling staring really in the moment like no other acting i have ever seen on the big screen. each series of decisions by the protagonists gets us further involved in their struggles and triumphs. this film is very challenging for first time cassavetes' viewers, but well worth returning to year after year. cinema just doesn't get this good. if you like to think and want something really unique and special check this out.