Loving

LOVING is a film for the patient movie buff. It is not a film for those who want to see murders or car crashes every five minutes. It is a maturely-told, sensitively-acted, -written and -directed film about a commercial artist's marital (and extra-marital) entanglements. It relies on character rather than plot to convey its points.

All the actors are spotless in their portrayals, especially George Segal and Eva Marie Saint as the artist and his harried wife. It is a film that slowly builds interest in the characters which is amply rewarded for the audience by the film's conclusion. LOVING is a film that will leave you silent at the end, and thinking about it for days afterward.

A bleak and chaotic film about a mess of a man making a mess of his life, and the film is also appropriately messy. It's possible to find some comedy in Loving, too, depending on your sense of humor. What's unlikely to be found here is much by way of love or genuine loving, with the title sounding very sunny for something that's ultimately so cynical.

It fits in with the era well, and while it's not as good as the best late '60s/early '70s movies that deal with disastrous people and the ways in which they wreck their lives, it probably deserves a little more attention than what it gets. It's hard to recommend as something that could possibly be enjoyed, but there's a decent amount to appreciate. I was also thankful it only made me feel discomfort for about 90 minutes, instead of 2+ hours.

In the great Jean Renoir classic "Rules of the Game", a character played by the director himself comments that "everybody has his own good reasons." This rightly has been taken to be the great humanist director's basic philosophy of life. Seeing, over and over again, this understanding, non-judgmental attitude by a narrative artist toward his characters' weaknesses is what makes art film audiences love Renoir's work and consider him one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century. Irvin Kershner's "Loving" is one of the rare Hollywood films worthy of being called Renoirian, and it is for just this reason. Even though "Loving" is filled with highly-flawed characters making seemingly disastrous choices about their lives, its genius is how it puts the audience in a position where it cannot (or at least cannot with any decency) judge them. This may be more than many audience members can handle, being so used to films with heroes and villains about whom they are allowed to feel smugly superior. The legendary "New Yorker" critic Pauline Kael, in her rave review of the film, wrote that it "looks at the failures of middle-class life without despising the people; it understands that they already despise themselves" and that there's "a decency in the way that Kershner is fair to everyone." We could use a few more films like "Loving" out there in the American film cannon. If you every get a chance to see this film, don't hesitate to do so!

I caught this film on late night cable (maybe even the 'romance' movie channel) and it left a deep impression. There is a gap between this type of melodrama in European cinema at the time and the 'revolution' that was happening in American cinema, particularly the suspension of moral judgment outside of epiphany. The main character is having a typical middle age, middle class crisis and we are allowed to see it unfold unencumbered by a personal transformation, a complete crash. This type of screen writing is having a revival in shows like 6 feet under on HBO. I would recommend it to anyone interested in that dark, muddy 1970's American cinema that seems to put the middle class of the 1960's to rest but doesn't become another 'desert road trip' film.

I was surprisingly impressed by this film. It's a very 60's film about the self destruction of a 60's illustrator whose is going through some kind of middle-age crazy. As others have said, it takes a lot of patience to get through to the final, awesome scene. Very touchy-feeley, but you never get a definite answer about George Segal's feelings and thoughts. His mistress is not that enthralling and neither is the neighbor-hood wife that he succumbs to. Sherry Lansing, in a small part is extremely beautiful. All the acting is good especially George Segal and Eva Marie Saint. You could almost get woozy from all the alcohol consumed and the cigarette smoke. Lots of early appearances from up and coming actors such as Roy Schneider and Sterling Hayden. Anyway, this all leads up to a party that is totally humiliating and cringe-worthy. I kind of remember parties like these! It all ends abruptly and on a down note. If you like introspective, depressing movies with a large dose of humiliation, this is for you.