Gloria

Directed by John Cassavetes, Gloria follows the tough-as-nails title character (Gena Rowlands) as she attempts to keep a young boy safe (John Adames’ Phil) after his entire family is murdered by mobsters. It’s familiar yet workable subject matter that is, for the most part, employed to underwhelming and uninvolving effect by Cassavetes, as the filmmaker, armed with his own screenplay, delivers an oddly-paced, plot-free drama that contains few, if any, wholeheartedly compelling attributes – with the arms-length atmosphere compounded by an almost total lack of character development and a repetitive narrative that relies way too much on impossible-to-swallow coincidences (ie how does Gloria keep running into the same people in a town as big as New York City?) And while the movie does contain a small handful of agreeable elements, including Rowlands’ first-class performance and an appealingly gritty NYC ambience, Gloria‘s absence of forward momentum, coupled with an often palpably overlong running time, paves the way for a midsection and second half that’s more tiresome and grating than anything else – which ultimately does confirm the film’s place as a half-baked misfire that feels as though it’s missing huge chunks of exposition.

** out of ****