boring? wait, what?
i've only seen 4 cassavetes' films. "shadows," "faces," "a woman under the influence," and now "the killing of a chinese bookie."
how can anyone who is a fan of cassavetes think that the longer cut of this film is boring? of the 4 movies i've seen, it's the only one that i felt like was over as soon as it began. sure, the strip-joint scenes are uncomfortably silent and drag, but there's all those great scenes in between developing the plot. perhaps that's why it seemed so fast-paced to me: its the only cassavetes film i've seen that could be called "plot driven," while the others were more so character studies.
i think i still prefer "faces" or "a woman under the influence" (as a fan of filmmakers such as bergman and von trier, those films better suit my tastes), but i found "the killing of a chinese bookie" to be highly entertaining.
i still haven't watched the shorter cut. i'll probably do that later today.