A critical success at the Venice and London film festivals, Shadows quickly became a rallying point for the “New American Cinema.” “John Cassavetes' pioneering improvisational work was made in 16mm, without a script, for about $15,000. Cassavetes is one of the unique innovators of the American cinema, and although his films have become progressively more conventional in their plastic appearance, he has remained the consummate actor's director. In Shadows, the personalities of the actors direct the film.” Michael Shedlin
The actors in Cassavetes' Manhattan Actor's Workshop were given scenes to improvise, and the result is a portrayal of the psychological lives of three black people living in mid-town Manhattan. The light-skinned Lelia (Lelia Goldoni) is accepted as white in her artistic and literary circles; her older brother, Hugh (Hugh Hurd) is a third-rate nightclub singer who aspires to greater success. Ben Carruthers helped define a new range of film acting as Ben, their pathetically insecure younger brother who hangs out with tough whites. To say that each suffers an “identity crisis” would be to use the lingo of the day but to minimalize the raw reality of these truly remarkable performances.