Minnie and
Moskowitz
John Cassavetes despised the seriousness of Lee Strasberg and the Method; he liked his acting playful, less
deadly earnest. That oft-improvised mischievousness didn't always shine through
in his more painfully introspective films, but it's on fine display in Minnie
and Moskowitz. The 1971 film offers Cassavetes' take on the screwball romance, in this case
between a museum employee fearing the onset of middle age (Gena
Rowlands) and a hippie-burnout parking-lot attendant
(Seymour Cassel), who at one point exclaims, "I
love you so much I forget to go to the bathroom!" Cassavetes
plays the brutal married man with whom Minnie has been carrying on previously;
their scenes together are so intense you wonder how volatile the real-life Cassavetes-Rowlands relationship was. Cassel's
easygoing performance offers most of the humor, while Rowlands
generates a fine counterpoint of middle-aged angst; an early scene in which she
discusses, with a much older friend, her anxiety over never having had a great
relationship should resonate with anyone who feels unloved, regardless of age.
Some of us are left to ponder a bigger mystery: How does