I’ve been known to waffle back and forth in picking my favorite Cassavettes film, whether it’s Love Streams or Opening Night, for varying reasons, I seem to always land on Minnie and Moskowitz. It feels like his most personal film, showcasing an unconventional approach to storytelling, much of its dialogue resonates, and the highly skilled ability of both Gena Rowlands and Seymour Cassel improvising while filming is as refreshing as it is captivating. The heart of the story embraces love in all its imperfections, celebrating the flaws of the characters in their discombobulating whirlwind union, and from it blossoms into an honest portrayal of how crazy,  and messy relationships can be. Aside from my deep adoration for Moonstruck, every romantic comedy wishes it could be like John Cassavetes’ Minnie and Moskowitz. I realize it’s a bold statement to make, but love is the beating heart of the human experience, sure it’s shaped funny, awkward, not always predictable but also kinda dreamy.

Minnie Moore, played by Gena Rowlands, has this weird sense of jadedness. This sad hopelessly deprived woman throws shade at how movies shape the normality of romance. In a monologue delivered by Minnie saying “I think movies are a conspiracy. They set you up from the time you’re a kid to believe in everything, in love, in ideals, in good people, in strength, in everything you know?” No doubt there is fierce commentary deeply embedded here, juxtaposed to what I feel is Cassavetes’ disdain for Hollywood’s repetitively formulaic cinema. But back to Minnie, who in a hilarious scene of drinking wine with her bestie Florence after watching a film starring Charles Boyer clumsily falls down the stairs as she staggers to her cab is as human as any woman who feels lost in a world where expectations and reality clash. As Minnie returns to her apartment a man named Jim (played by Cassavetes) is waiting for her and it’s rough. How Cassavetes was able to slap his own wife while playing a character who is cheating on his wife is difficult to fathom and downright bizarre. Maybe that’s what makes the scene so brutal and uncomfortable, which is my least favorite part. The following day, Minnie goes on a lunch date with a man named Zelmo and this scene stretches the boundaries of sheer discomforting embarrassment. The man cannot stop shouting, projecting thoughts onto Minnie, while spewing a limiting view of self worth and loathing so much so Minnie hides behind the infamous pair of bug-eyed sunglasses through the midst of it. Just when she’s had enough and attempts to leave the restaurant, Zelmo chases after her into the parking lot where the scene expands into its most outrageous milieu yet. Just a typical sunny Los Angeles afternoon where people get into a confrontation. 

Seymour Moskowitz, played by Seymour Cassel, is the parking attendant for the same restaurant Minnie is attempting to flee. Moskowitz sees this all unfold and somehow becomes the knight in the shiny Ford pickup swooping in for the greatest meet cute of all. Poor Minnie as she stumbles from one awkward situation to the next, because now she’s in a stranger’s car barreling down the streets of Los Angeles, which is super cool to see in the 70s. However, Moskowitz, as strange looking and anti stoic as he is, is somewhat of a brash gentleman. Subtly when he  opens the truck door for her, as they go to the iconic Pink’s, for coffee and hotdogs which is the second occurrence Seymour orders such a concoction of food pairing. Earlier with the formidable presence that is Timothy Carey, who has the most hilarious rambling bit of dialogue in the entire film. It’s truly a piece of Cassavetes cinema that marks the essence of authenticity as you can clearly watch Seymur Cassel smirking and holding in some chuckles as Carey improvises his own spice to the dialogue. Cinematic gold. I can’t keep my eyes or ears off of it, it’s so good.

My favorite moments are when Minnie and Seymour dance in the parking lot of some dance club and as they’re about to go in they bump into Minnie’s much more sophisticated friends who ask her to join them, but she hesitates not knowing how to include Seymour and he picks up on this angrily, so they fight and he barrels out in his Ford pickup leaving her behind. Minnie ends up getting a ride from her friend and as they arrive at her apartment, Seymour is there and the two men get into a physical fight, somehow punching Minnie in the midst of it all. After all this Seymour gets her inside to ice her bruise, and at this point, she just doesn’t see any future in this relationship, which makes him want to prove his unconditional love for her by threatening to kill himself but, ultimately it results in him just cutting off his mustache. It’s in this very act they decide to get married. This ebb and flow energy is all over the place between these two, from every dramatic emotional outburst to playful tenderness like polar opposites uniting in the most elaborate tango I’ve ever seen on screen. When you think about the Tango in comparison, both partners have the ability to self express themselves in a very engaging intensity; it repels them and it also consumes them. 

Minnie and Moskowitz is wacky, fun, genuine, tender, and an exhausting film about two people who are so mismatched, have crazy physical and mental shouting spats, but are somehow able to wrangle the tangly mess that is love and turn it into a uniquely, dynamic dance. It’s strange but it’s heart centers on the premise of romantic optimism. It’s so damn cute. The performances are magnetic. The editing is jagged. Nothing is perfect. Perfection would kill this film. It’s rough around the edges but gooey on the inside and that’s what matters. I think the imperfection of relationships is the epitome of a great romance. Moskowitz is a bushy mustache, ponytail wearing cartoon who loves to eat hot dogs, drink coffee and have no real ambition in life except to work for a bigger car parking attendant company. Minnie with many failed romances behind her, is troubled by being vulnerable so much so she hides behind her heavy bug eyed sunglasses and if there’s anything indicative of her personality as a curator for a museum, she seems to have wants and needs that sway in a more structured nature and to see anything past that maybe she’s never considered which is what makes her relationship with Moskowitz so entertaining. I think through him, she sees something different because he’s so in love with her, even when he says,”he loves her so much, he forgets to go to the bathroom.” Now that’s an all consuming, chaotic kinda love, but love nonetheless. 

Unfortunately, Minnie and Moskowitz is not streaming on the major providers nor does it have a BluRay release but I was able to find it on youtube: https://youtu.be/P_ulyPgB0Rg

Now go watch it!