The film is the story of two adult siblings who have not seen each other in years as both endure turmoil in their individual lives where they reunite to understand what is wrong with them. It is a film that explores two people who both deal with loneliness with one breaking away from her family while her brother is losing himself to a lifestyle that has become fleeting. The film’s screenplay by John Cassavetes and Ted Allen, which is based on the play by the latter, is a study of sibling relationships as well as two people who are in and out of love. Robert Harmon (John Cassavetes) is a novelist who spends his time going to nightclubs as he is doing research for a novel as he spends his time at home with a bevy of women while is pursuing a singer in Susan (Diahnne Abbott). His sister Sarah Lawson (Gena Rowlands) has just divorced her husband Jack (Seymour Cassel) as they are in a custody battle over their teenage daughter Debbie (Risa Martha Blewitt) who is choosing her father instead of Sarah due to Sarah’s own emotional issues.
The first act is about the individual lives of Robert and Sarah where the two become lost in their own lives with the former continuing a troubling lifestyle while he wants to go out with Susan but does not want any emotional attachments. For Sarah, Debbie’s decision to be with her father becomes emotionally and mentally crushing where she would take bad advice from her psychiatrist to distract herself from her issues only to put herself in a worst situation. The second act begins with not just Sarah’s own reunion with Robert but also an unexpected visitor to his 8-year-old son Albie (Jakob Shaw), whose mother is going away for the weekend, forcing Robert to spend a day with him. Despite Robert’s faults as a man who cares more about himself than Albie, he is aware of his faults as he knows he is not the parental figure Albie needs where he would have an unfortunate encounter with Albie’s stepfather. The third act relates to Sarah trying to do something for Robert as he is alone in his house while she is also trying to deal with her own situation where elements of surrealism would occur.
Cassavetes’ direction is stylish for some of the moments that involve surrealism as it plays into Sarah’s own thoughts about her family. Yet, Cassavetes maintains a sense of normalcy in terms of the compositions he creates with much of the film set in Robert’s home which is the home that Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands own in Los Angeles, California. Shot on locations in Southern California including Los Angeles and parts of Las Vegas, Cassavetes creates a film that is lively yet also full of uncertainty in his compositions with the wide and medium shots to get a look into the locations including Robert’s home where the hallways has this sense of claustrophobia to play into Robert’s own isolation. There are also close-ups that play into the loneliness that both Robert and Sarah deal with, as Cassavetes also aims for this sense of drama that does feel theatrical only because it is set at Robert’s house. Cassavetes’ usage of tracking shots is also key as its help play into the movement of one location at the house to another instead of aiming for something loose with hand-held cameras.
Cassavetes’ approach to surrealism plays more into Sarah’s own thoughts as her own family life begins to crumble. Notably a violent scene in the first act when she is in Paris thinking about her husband and daughter as well as a few other moments in the film’s third act. It all plays with Sarah trying to make sense of her faults where she decides to do something for Robert since he no longer has his many girlfriends at the house. What she does is a shock to Robert, but he cares about Sarah that he is willing to go along with it despite his own faults. Even when Sarah goes into a state of delirium as she becomes overwhelmed with her own drama as Robert begins to do anything to get her out of her state. Cassavetes would create a sense of urgency in the drama while also keeping things uncertain as it relates to the fates of both Robert and Sarah as they are both at a crossroad over their own individual lives as they need each other more than ever. Overall, Cassavetes crafts a somber yet rapturous film about two siblings who reunite to deal with their own loneliness.
Cinematographer Al Ruban does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with the way some of the nighttime interior/exterior scenes are presented along with the sunny look of the daytime exterior scenes. Editor George C. Villasenor does excellent work with the editing with its stylish approach to jump-cuts while knowing when not to cut during some of the long tracking shots. Production designer Phedon Papamichael and art director Maria Caso do amazing work with the look of Robert’s home with its array of picture galleries as well as the hotel room he and his son stayed in Vegas as well as the home of Susan. Costume designers Jennifer Smith-Ashley and Lydia Manderson do fantastic work with the costumes in the posh dresses that Sarah wears to the suits and tuxedos that Robert wear as it plays into their lifestyles.
Makeup artist Michael Stein and hairstylist Deann Power do terrific work with the look of the characters in some of the performance parts such as the nightclub and a weird ballerina performance in the film’s third act. The special effects by John Eggett does nice work with some of the film’s minimal effects that play into a few surreal moments that Sarah dreams about. Sound mixers Bo Harwood, Richard Lightstone, and Mike Denecke do superb work with the sound in capturing everything that is happening on location including music that is played in a room or at a club. The film’s music by Bo Harwood is wonderful for its music score that only appears sparingly in its mixture of jazz and electronic music that plays into the drama and some of the surreal elements while its music soundtracks consists largely of jazz, folk, and cabaret music including the stuff played at the nightclub that Robert goes to.
The film’s marvelous ensemble cast include some notable small roles from Raphael de Niro as Susan’s son, Xan Cassavetes and Dominique Davalos as backup singers for Susan, John Roselius as a man that Sarah meets in a bowling alley, David Rowlands as Sarah’s psychiatrist who gives her bad advice, Robert Fieldsteel as a doctor that appears late in the film, Tom Badal as Jack’s lawyer, Al Ruban as Sarah’s lawyer, Joan Foley as the judge in the custody case, Christopher O’Neill as a drag performer named Phyllis that Robert meets at a nightclub, Julie Allan as Robert’s secretary Charlene, Magaret Abbott as Susan’s mother Margarita whom Robert would party with, Eddy Donno as Albie’s stepfather who hates Robert, Michele Conway as Albie’s mother, and in the role of Robert’s girlfriends at his house include Leslie Hope, Renee Leflore, Joan Dykman, Bronwyn Bober, Victoria Morgan, Barbara Difrenza, and Cindy Davidson.
Jakob Shaw and Risa Martha Blewitt are fantastic in their respective roles as Robert’s son Albie and Sarah’s daughter Debbie as two kids who are in complicated situations with the former trying to get to know his dad is despite Robert’s troubling lifestyle while the latter is someone who feels smothered by her mother and prefers to be with her father. Diahnne Abbott is excellent as the cabaret singer Susan as a woman that Robert pursues as she is hesitant about spending time with him while being aware of his charms and good qualities though she is troubled by his bad qualities. Seymour Cassel is superb as Sarah’s ex-husband Jack Lawson who is weary of his ex-wife’s mood swings and behavior where he is trying to get custody of their daughter even though he admits to knowing much in how to deal with a teenage girl.
Finally, there’s John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands in tremendous performances in their respective roles as the siblings Robert and Sarah. Cassavetes brings a charm and liveliness to the character of Robert who likes to party and be around women while also works as a writer where he goes to nightclubs to do research as is reluctant to get serious in being in a relationship despite his feelings for Susan. Rowlands is the more dramatic of the two as a woman that is in anguish over her custody battle and often loving too much where she is coping with not just uncertainty in her life but also the fear of being truly alone. Cassavetes and Rowlands together are electrifying to watch as two broken people who are troubled by the past as well as issues in their own life as they play into this sibling dynamic of two people who really need each other.
Love Streams is a spectacular film by John Cassavetes that is highlighted by the performances of himself and wife Gena Rowlands. Along with its supporting cast, colorful visuals, study of loss and loneliness, and a playful yet eerie music soundtrack. The film is an intense dramatic film that is about two siblings who are both falling apart in their own lives as they also try to help each other after a long period of estrangement. In the end, Love Streams is a sensational film by John Cassavetes.
John Cassavetes Films: (Shadows (1959 film)) – (Too Late Blues) – (A Child is Waiting) – (Faces) – Husbands - (Minnie and Moskowitz) – A Woman Under the Influence - (The Killing of a Chinese Bookie) – (Opening Night) – Gloria (1980 film) - (Big Trouble (1986 film))
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