Girlfriends

I came across Girlfriends after reading a list of Stanley Kubrick's favorite films, and he rightly called it 'wonderful'. Shot in New York in the late 70's, when master filmmakers such as Cassavetes, Scorsese and Woody Allen ruled the cities screens Weill's film went largely ignored and her brilliant lead actress never went on to make another film except for a small role in a B sci-fi thriller.

There is an obvious kinship between Weill's style and that of Woody Allen - the nervous Jewish humor, the wit and sharp dialog, but Girlfriends omits the irony and stands on its own as a singular, intelligent story of friendship and troubled relationships told from a uniquely female perspective.

Sadly it is very hard to see this film today, No streaming service carries it, and Kim's New York just shut its doors for good. I bought a poor transfer on DVD. I hope Criterion gets around to it one day, because it is truly a wonderful film.

Well-done and engrossing drama of a woman (played by Melanie Mayron) who's living with her best friend. Her best friend decides to get married and move out. It devastates Mayron and she goes on a journey of self-discovery...and trying to find a new roommate.

This was a big hit in 1978. It played the art house circuit for quite a while. I saw it when I was 16. Being a guy, I wasn't sure I would like it but I was fascinated. The characters were complex, the story absorbing and showed me what NYC was like (back in 1978). After it died down it disappeared completely. There was a showing on cable back in the early 1980s but that was it. I've asked a few friends who are film fanatics (like me) if they knew about this and none of them had even heard of it! That's too bad. This is a wonderful film for anybody--you don't have to be a woman to understand the loneliness and shock Mayron feels when her best friend leaves. Also it has some casual nudity which was surprising for a PG film. It also has Christopher Guest in an early role (and doing a nude scene--not much is shown).

An excellent film. It is available on DVD. The DVD transfer may look grainy but the film always looked like that, It was VERY low-budget.

Susan Weinblatt (Melanie Mayron) is a struggling photographer hoping to stop doing weddings and such. She lives with aspiring writer best friend Anne Munroe in New York City. They are moving into a new apartment when Anne tells Susan that she's marrying Martin (Bob Balaban). Susan struggles professionally and personally. She's lonely with less of her best friend. She takes in hitchhiker Ceil and has an aborted fling with Rabbi Gold (Eli Wallach).

It's a New York indie about the single modern girl. It's not a sitcom where the cute blonde just can't find Prince Charming. It's more truthful and yearning than that. Her need to find her place in the modern world is palpable. Mayron has a great sense of a New York girl. The visual work is a bit flat which is excusable for an indie. Eric is a bit of a frustrating nothing. I'd rather have more awkward drama with Rabbi Gold or Ceil. The plot unfolds rather than builds drama.

Although several reviewers state that that this film is very difficult to find or view, it is included in Turner Classic Movie's extensive library, so it should turn up there from time to time. I highly recommend "tcm on demand" which allows viewers a specific time frame in which to see films, and, thankfully, tcm has expanded these time periods for many, but not all, of the films.

Having personally experienced the New York City singles scene for a very brief period of my life during the 1980's, not a very happy time for me, I admit that I was not inclined to watch this film based on the description alone, but I was pleasantly surprised by the complexity of the characters, their relationships, and the quality of the acting. The only reason why I was drawn to it was to see Eli Wallach in the unexpected portrayal as a rabbi, not knowing that this was not his only appearance in a movie as a rabbi. I have only known him as sleazy, unsavory characters, roles which he mastered beautifully on many occasions. As it turns out, Rabbi Gold does not guide the spiritual fulfillment of the central character, Susan Weinblatt (Melanie Mayron), as much as providing her with a livelihood as a photographer of life events and, eventually, the promise of a risky, romantic relationship, at least for a moment. This is not at all the rabbi that I expected, and I would have liked more Wallach as his role was not very prominent in spite of his high billing.

Both Mayron and Anita Skinner produce fine performances. I couldn't, however, appreciate the male characters, who were very disagreeable to me, perhaps not by accident. Mayron's memorable film debut occurred four years earlier as the young, free-spirited hitch-hiker in "Harry and Tonto", a very different person than Susan Weinblatt, which attests to her excellent acting skills.

This movie set in 1978, is a wonderful analysis of women's relationships with their friends and how relationships with men can change their relationships with each other. It is subtle and nuanced and emblematic of the independent films of the 1970's.

Claudia Weill was a women who tried to get into that very exclusive circle of directors which are very male. When this movie was made it was considered to be the first of many such independent films by women to try to climb that fortress.

The acting of Amy Wright and Melanie Mayron at the time felt like it wasn't acting at all. Since they were both unknowns, you felt like you were snooping into someone's personal lives rather than watching two actresses go through a script.