Songs for Cassavetes from DVD Answer Man.com

The film, "Songs for Cassavetes" takes a look at the world of American underground music from perspective of the people who makes it happen. With a brief backwards glance at the impact of punk on underground rock, "Songs for Cassavetes" documents the bands making music in the wake of the alternative media explosion of the nineties. This is what Justin Mitchell and co-producer Marvin Miranda like us to believe!

This 16 mm black and white film poorly made and assembled, hardly qualifies to be called MOVIE or DOCUMENTARY! If you are a diehard aficionado of so called "Underground Films" (I think it should have stayed underground), then this amateurish, self-indulgent waste of time and material, attempting to be entertaining and expressing oneself then this may be just the ticket!

The late actor/director John Cassavetes' statement "… My films are expressive of a culture that has had the possibility of attaining material fulfillment while at the same time finding itself unable to accomplish the simple business of conducting human lives. We have been sold bill of goods as a substitute for life --- In this country people die at the age of 21, may be younger. My responsibility as an artist is to help them past 21.

J.C. directed and acted in a long list of Avant-Garde Films, one especially outstanding, the 1974 "A Woman Under The Influence", (I worked on the 1976 film "Two-Minutes Warning" featured John Cassavetes as swat team sergeant) and subsequently met him, a quiet and well spoken man. I find it very hard to find any connection with the "Songs for Cassavetes" and John Cassavetes the artist.
-Leonard S. Peterson

Songs for Cassavetes from MaximumRockNRoll

"Songs For Cassavetes," uses actual film, and the black and white cinematography gives the entire film a very northwest feel, even though certain segments were shot in Los Angeles and Berkeley, California. The film takes a look at, sometimes very briefly, bands like the PEECHEES, SLEATER-KINNEY, THE VELVET SIDEWALK, THE HIGH FIVES, UNWOUND, MAKE-UP and a handful of other, equally self-important studies in mediocrity. That said, SLEATER-KINNEY and the HIGH FIVES are definite highlights in "Songs For Cassavetes." Yet this film is less about the live performances, and more about the examination of the d.i.y., independent philosophy. Unfortunately, all the bands that are profiled here are signed to either Lookout! or the Kill Rock Stars label, which are both large enough labels that the bands tend to be a bit past the grassroots, d.i.y. level. It's also unfortunate that the only half way down to earth conversation in the film takes place with the HIGH FIVES. Unlike every other band before and after their segment, the HIGH FIVES don't seem to view or refer to themselves in the third person. However, when giving an explanation of why bands are labeled sellouts, Chris Imlay becomes noticeably tentative. This explanation follows his almost bitter disappointment at not being able to tour with GREEN DAY due to the rigid work schedules of some of his fellow bandmates. After Renae Bryants explanation of feminism in punk, and the Riot Grrrl Movement, I was looking foward to the PEECHEES segment. The drummer in the PEECHEES is Molly from BRATMOBILE, which was one of the Riot Grrl Bands named as a huge influence by Renae Bryant in "Punk Pretty." It was very anti-climatic when it turned out that Molly is incapable of making a concrete statement about anything without fracturing every sentence into a series of "likes," while at the same time appearing disinterested by every question.

It would take up too much space to fully critique every band's segment, and disect the requisite self-tributary diatribes that seem to accompany them. So very briefly, the most pretentious of all the bands in "Songs For Cassavetes," goes to the VELVET SIDEWALK, and more specifically to their lead singer. UNWOUND, and the band FURTHER, bad mouth major labels while they seem to pine for them at the same time. Oh, I could go on and on. The fact that almost everyone in this film is scared of the word "Punk" speaks volumes. In the end, this makes "Songs For Cassavetes," somewhat interesting(even if it is a sick interest), and it is very well made after all.
-Jay Dead

Songs for Cassavetes from NY Press March 7, 2000

With such extreme music going on, it’s hard to believe that anyone could care about an indie-rock movement that continues to grow more smug and self-satisfied as it embraces ever-less-talented new bands. Just how insularly upper-middle-class and accepting of received wisdom does a white kid in year-2000 America have to be in order to be not affected at all by hiphop, electronic music or metal? The answer is documented, unwittingly, in Songs for Cassavetes, a rockumentary showing at this week’s Underground Film Festival (premieres Sun., 3/12, 2:45 p.m.). Letting bands like the stupefyingly pretentious Make-Up speak for themselves, this dull, dull film (which also covers the Peechees, Henry’s Dress, Sleater-Kinney, Hi-Fives, Further and Tullycraft) is like a vain rich kid’s glossy fanzine blown up to screen size. Of course it contains many mopey critiques of capitalism.
-Adam Heimlich

Songs for Cassavetes from Mean Magazine Issue #6

This documentary takes its inspiration from a quote by actor/filmmaker John Cassavetes about the tendency of young people to die emotional and artistic deaths with the onset of adult responsibility at the age of 21. First-time filmmaker Justin Mitchell apparently set out to show that age ain't nothin' but a number by taking a closer look at the burgeoning early-mid-90's DIY indie-rock scene, a world in which many forged ahead creatively in the midst of a culture with a long-faced, sourpuss, money-crazed work ethic.

Cassavetes kicks into high gear with the incomparable Peechees tearing up the now-defunct L.A. club Jabberjaw, followed by interviews and live performances from Sleater-Kinney, Unwound, the Hi-Fives, Dub Narcotic Sound System and a host of other independent rock wunkerkinds. The majority of the interviews (the Make-Up, Further adn the guy from Some Velvet Sidewalk's highly entertaining, obsessive rambling aside) are unfocused and monotonous; watching people sit around waxing philosophical about "serious" questions is just no fun. So the film's execution works against its title's promise of achieving any intimacy with the bands. You don't see what they watch on TV, or read in the bathroom or get a glimpse of their record collections- things which are far more telling than someone's opinion about the effects of mass media on underfed rock bands. You don't meet anyone's dog or mom; watch anyone dye their hair or go to the supermarket. The result is that we feel distant from the bands even in a narrow-sighted setting, which should feel intimate. Still, you should see this film. It's not that funny, but it's not blurry either, and it's probably the ONLY chance you'll EVER have to own compelling live video performances from all (or some) or your favorite bands.
-Janet Ginsburg