Review of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) by Carl C — 20 Oct 2008

Cassavetes at his masterful best! The re-cut of the film that is, the original cut whilst being an interesting take it does stray off needlessly at certain tangents, Cassavetes himself too admitted this.

But this is a provocative and powerful character study in which Gazzara's masterful turn as Cosmo Vitelli in a film which gives us the most brilliant and sordid vision of sleazy club life and low level gangsters your're ever likely to see on the screen.

A film in the breathe of Scorsese's Mean Streets, certainly they are considered sister films by Scorsese as Cassavetes portrays with that haunting red glow, the sense of foreboding doom is not only atmospheric but geniusly unsettling.

What diverses him is the up close and personal camera work almost intruding on the character it makes it more tense, uncomfortable: you ultimately gain a sense of empathy a rapport if you will with the sub-characters of the picture.

Cassavetes final vision is almost a surreal neo-noir feature but almost a down to earth doc with the majestic cinematic tendencies only his pioneering Indie ways can accumulate, a unsung masterpiece of American Cinema.