Word: melodrama
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Perhaps most engaging are Edmunds' interactions with nature--in the form of personified plants. These pieces are short enough that they can sustain themselves to the end, without the scarlet-hued melodrama of death or memory fading them. They are appropriately infused with sunlight by more lively color images. One of Edmunds' most vital poems, "Willows Coming Into Leaf," has haiku-like impact...
...work collected in The High Road to Taos, like the book's cover, has been treated with a wash of red tones. Invariably, it is the red of poetic melodrama: rust, dead roses, dried blood and red earth. These shades have long been standard images for poetic reflection, leaving to Edmunds only stains on memory...
Edward Zwick, the director, and Susan Shilliday and Bill Wittliff, the screenwriters, are under the impression that they are bringing forth a tragic epic, not a silly melodrama, and therefore much blood must be spilled before whoever is left standing at the end is granted peace and wisdom. That most of the dying results from a bootlegging operation Tristan starts up during Prohibition tends to short-circuit whatever impulses toward terror and pity we might still have. Running hooch in from Canada is not an occupation we usually associate with profound drama, especially when it is centered on a figure...
Coordinating Beethoven's music with the story poses another problem. The relentless melodrama of the film contrasts with the composer's work to an unintentionally comic effect. And of course, we hear plenty of the Fifth Symphony at crucial intervals...
...Himiko, who, though technically dead, is caught in a limbo between this world and the next. As the tragic Himiko, who is trying to come to terms with her new life, her abusive husband and her daughter, she is convincing. She captures the almost schizophrenic character effortlessly and without melodrama. One carp: the foot stamping -- once, twice, and yes, it's very effective, but once with every exit, it's distracting...