Word: comic
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...credit of the actors, though, they manage to create worlds within themselves, leading to an almost incongruous comic machine in the form of Ilana Kurshan's Harriet, sister to Sylvia. Her mole like searching head and wide eyes cast light on the otherwise dour proceedings, while providing a kind of insider's guide to the marriage. At the same time, though, even Kurshan acquires a police-witness-feel in her casual chat with a gumshoe Hyman. Young Lee '99, as Phillip's boss whose pet project is adding a spiffy annex to the New York Harvard Club, reaches similar comic...
Yossarian himself is rarely given the opportunity to participate in the deft comic timing that is going on all around him, which only adds more humor to his plight. As Yossarian, Leach remains stoic and earnest, but inevitably boring compared to his neurotic comrades. Watching him grow increasingly frustrated at their madness gives the audience fodder for amusement rather than a plea for sympathy. Leach portrays the perfect Yossarian--a man who has as many cyclical complexes as those around him, but whose personality grows pale in comparison to the army-green circus going on around...
...mesmerized eyes. A potato warrior, two kitchen knives tied to its back, plunges down a ramp and a lazy tire hops aboard a tiny wheeled cart, only to glide a little further before hitting its target. The elaborate set-up is at once a marvel of makeshift precision and comic redundancy (just imagine a wheel riding a cart!), and these moments of transcendent anthropomorphism simultaneously account for the film's humor and its morbid undercurrent. Eventually the series will break down or burn out, and the redundancy of individual steps will seem an absurd observation in the context...
...experimental means to an end do not provide any substance. That Ween was up to the challenge is valiant, but the subject matter flattens any hope for success. Maybe next time the group will look to a brighter, more accessible topic and shock the music world with an unpredictable comic brilliance. For now, though, The Mollusk crawls on by with little notice...
...Leigh is perfectly cast in Agnieszka Holland's adaptation of Henry James's novel. An awkward young woman starved for affection is caught between a cynical, distant father and a spirited but selfish young suitor. Holland's camera work and sense of period is engaging throughout, and her trademark comic acuity leavens the somber arc of the story. Eventually, though, Leigh asserts herself just long enough to break your heart. Like its heroine, the film misses true magnificence, but its intelligent cast and sensitive story-telling are more than enough to recommend...