wandereramor Maybe it's just that I'm a sucker for movies about performance, but I really liked this one. There's a kind of rawness to the camera-work and the performances that makes the film impossible to turn away from. The story of the aging actress hounded by her fear of irrelevance is one that's been told a lot, but somewhere between Cassavetes' script and Rowland's acting it seems more visceral and real than ever before. This is a fun movie to think about, but it's not an intellectual exercise -- it kind of grabs you by the throat and rips your jugular out. Opening Night excoriates the reduction of Myrtle to her mere body while at the same time making itself and the viewer participants in it. It's a thoroughly uncomfortable but powerful move.Honestly, watching this movie is like discovering a whole secret history. Perfect Blue, one of my favourite movies, now seems like a direct cross-Pacific descendant to Opening Night. And then there's that Hold Steady song that makes so much more sense now.I think this review is a bit incoherent, but that's just the way this film makes me feel. If none of the above made sense, here's my opinion in a sentence: Not everyone is going to like Opening Night, but I think everyone should watch it nonetheless.

MartinHafer Despite the very, very positive reviews for this film and a very high score of 7.9, this film is NOT for everyone. I think had the film been shown to a hundred people and they reviewed and scored it, it would have been a lot lower--and with a WIDELY skewed distribution. People would either love it or hate it. However, the average person also would not just pick up a film directed by John Cassavetes. They might love him in "The Dirty Dozen" or "Rosemary's Baby"--but these are his commercial projects and ones in which he only acted. His own films are very personal and don't even attempt to be commercial but are artsy and often about topics that aren't all that marketable. The bottom line is that he did films he loved to make and didn't seem to care if the public embraced them--at least that's the perception most people 'in the know' have of his movies.As for "Opening Night", it's clearly not intended as a crowd pleaser! Like many of his film, it stars his wife, Gena Rowlands, and is VERY introspective and non-traditional in style. In many ways, it plays like an Ingmar Bergman film as made by an American. And so, if you love Bergman, you'll probably love this film--and if you think Bergman is dull, then you'll DEFINITELY think this film is as well.The film also stars Ben Gazzara--another actor frequently used by Cassavetes. A couple other very interesting choices for major roles are Paul Stewart (a great heavy from the 1940s and 50s) and Joan Blondell (a star from the 1930s). It's nice to see these familiar faces late in their careers--as Hollywood seemed to have no interest in these veteran actors--yet Cassavetes just didn't seem to care about marketability."Opening Night" is a film that is about an opening night of a play. Unexpectedly, one of the star's fans VERY obsessed fans is killed outside the theater--and the star (Rowlands) begins to suffer what appears to be a nervous breakdown through the course of the movie. As far as the film's structure goes, it was VERY unconventional--with long scenes from the play interspersed throughout the movie. Also, like many Cassavetes films, it features odd camera work and occasionally use of a deliberately bad focus. Fans of Cassavetes will eat this up but the average person (if they even see the film) will be confused and probably very bored by the whole thing. I am not a typical film viewer and like a lot of artsy films--yet I must admit I did not enjoy this film. Perhaps if I see a few more of his films, then I will find myself a fan (this has happened on a few occasions with other beloved film makers). What I did like and appreciate is that at least the film took some risks and was not conventional. I really wanted to like this movie a lot more than I did.

lrpmr I spent 5 hours drenched in this film. Nothing I have ever seen comes close to the delicious funk this film left me in. Never mind females advanced aging dilemma's, human fear vaults off the screen for your viewing. Personally engaging to the ninth degree, the film invests one with an undeniable shared feeling for our lives'. I enjoyed this dalliance with raw wounded gall deep from within. It empowers a mutually shared vestment in the history of human encounters reaching far deeper into the pain, isolation and skewed views of self and others. The result forgives our tepid forming of a bridge away from the muddy sludge of dead we must encounter. The birth in finding real people is a happy pursuit. The effort for realism intersects with the dark ground of our bankrupt culture.

Pokerface11 Opening Night is my favorite Cassavetes, and I feel it is my duty to debunk the notion that those or any of his films aside from Shadows was strictly improvised. In fact, his films were tightly scripted after actor improvisation was used to contribute to his ideas. The coherence of a film like Opening Night, the development of the themes of aging, vanity, and hope, could not just spring from the improvisational head of even the very fine actors in the movie. If you pay attention to the dialogue (outside of the lines in the play), it is obvious that much care was taken to craft them (e.g., the scene where Myrtle explains to the playwright what problems she is having with the character and script).