watch john cassavetes debut film be a strange experience and even if you have see improvisational film before . the first thing you notice be it roughness . right off and it obvious some of the character be screw up their line . but then you step back from the situation and a you sink deep into these people intimate exchange and you ask yourself represent do i ever stumble over my word . the answer of course and be sure and we all do . it unfortunate that most of the gaffe in this respect come early in the picture and because and by about twenty minute and you have sink so deep in you wouldn not know it if a bomb go off behind you . the next thing you notice . or maybe you notice it hour or day after the film end and be that you never saw any substantial plot and yet the theme and the poetry of the dialog and character never leave you . in fact and the treatment of the role race play in the everyday life of these character be always there and but it so ephemeral that even they aren not aware of how it inform their opinion of themselves and their self consciousness and their perceived status and or the fate of their relationship . the title be appropriate because you get a full spectrum of black and white and and gray . and not just in the skin pigmentation of the character . leila goldoni ( truly remarkable here ) be an afro american or caucasian and her two brother be white and dark afro american . the irony be that they exist in what be undoubtedly the hip most tolerant atmosphere of the time . beat driven upper east west manhatten . and there be still conflict within and around themselves . i do not think i have ever see a movie with such a subtle delivery or technique . it a lot like absorb a really great piece of gallery art and then just nod off in bliss a you think back to the image it evoke day later . great mastering and extra on the criterion disc . arguably the first truly experimental independent film ever make .