At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Cassavetes's oeuvre has consistently been misinterpreted at "realist." In fact, his films are generally expressionistic- self-conscious presentations of his mind-set-as-such. Having said that his earlier films, which I must say sometimes upset me with what I found to be their misogynistic machismo, often struck me as trying to use artistic expression to make subjective masculinity seem like an objectivity- a fact to be taken into consideration. Jackson Pollock did this too, of course. The difference is that Pollock, in his work if not life, never presented the female as lesser in relation to male subjectivity. Cassavetes, sadly, did so often, but not, I will venture, in this work. In Love Streams the filmmaker's fantasies are his alone- he asks for no ratification from the audience. Yes: a character played by him is an awful date to a woman who then falls for the character. But I think we are not meant to identify with either the male or the female in this scenario so much as with ourselves as viewers. Cassavetes is putting his id on display here and asks simply for recognition of his subjectivity as such. Indeed, if there is a figure of identification for the viewer it is the character played by Gena Rowlands, the sister of the Cassavetes figure. Befuddled and disgusted by a world that does not acknowledge her romantic demands she is that which her brother, the artistic articulation of suffering and resolution, can only satisfy. He does so by taking the mantle of an Old Testament martyr, but one capable of laughing and crying at and for himself.

Robert Harmon (John Cassavetes) is a drunken irresponsible womanizer writer. His sister Sarah Lawson (Gena Rowlands) is getting a divorce. She's unstable and obsessed with going to funerals or visiting the sick. Her daughter has had enough and choose to live with the father. Robert's ex-wife surprises him with his 8-years old son but he is ill equipped to take of the boy. Sarah shows up as the the siblings struggle to fix their shortcomings.At first, I find Sarah's divorce fascinating but Robert is horribly annoying. He's a drunken douche. The rest of the movie has some interesting scenes but a lot of meandering naturalistic wanderings. I'm not a big fan of Cassavetes but I always enjoy me some Gena Rowlands.

This is not a movie for "film buffs"; nor is it an "art- house" movie. Rather, "Love Streams" is for those who may be moved by seeing human emotion depicted, on-screen, in the most direct, natural way imaginable.The performances by the two leads are dead- on. Cassavetes, as the drunken writer/ playboy {who hints at his mediocrity with the vapid questions he asks of the female subjects of his presumably forthcoming book}, and Rowlands as his love starved, too-sensitive-for-this-world sister,make you care for them as if they were your own family. And the sense of place- weirdly atmospheric, forlorn Los Angeles, is effective. Another praiseworthy brother-sister movie to consider would perhaps be "You Can Count on Me".

This is a late great work of a master director. It is one of the most original films I have ever seen, though Cassavetes work was mostly improvised and so always had a spontaneous and creative feel. Love Streams is so good because it is the work of a highly creative mind at the height of his talents. It is haunting in its depiction of an unusual brother and sister and their love for each other and for family (in the case of the sister played by the great Gena Rowlands in a beautiful, though at times scary, performance.) More than anything it is a study of the meaning of love itself. The look of the film and the editing alone make this one worth watching.