Word: melodrama
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...released in 2003, when he played an ex-bank manager exploring the loneliness of retirement; and this February's much-lauded Black, in which he plays an alcoholic, Alzheimer's-frazzled teacher of the disabled. Sarkar, his most recent release, has classic elements of the old Bachchan?killer eyes, melodrama?but the film has depth and subtlety expressed in the actor's weathered features. Performances like these have returned Bachchan to center stage, and reinvigorated an industry that seemed in danger of creative death by formula...
...History of Violence: that might be the title of a sociological treatise on America and its films. Actually, it's the name of a smart new melodrama written by Josh Olson (from a well-known graphic novel) and made by director David Cronenberg. The movie sees gunplay infecting a series of peaceful small-town settings: a quiet motel, a friendly diner, the home of the most honorable citizen in Millbrook, Ind. He is Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), and he enjoys an idyllic life with his lovely, loving wife (Maria Bello) and their two kids. When Tom uses some surprisingly expert...
...different species, an emissary from a higher world of thought and feeling. In her one indisputably great film, Camille, she bestows love on the youthful Armand (Robert Taylor) as a gift from the gods; and, with her anguished, rapturous death, she leaves it with him. Her performance raises melodrama to a feature-length epiphany. No actress today could play a courtesan's self-sacrifice at such a high and perfect pitch. None would dare...
...savoring his just deserts. Into this familiar mold Scott and his screenwriters poured so much intelligence, such vigorous picturizing of military assaults and gladiatorial entertainments that this dormant genre was reborn. The fatal "games" Maximus fights in the Colosseum might be a modern extreme sport or a Vin Diesel melodrama reimagined as art. Superb acting certainly helps. Offscreen, Crowe may seem a lout; onscreen, he radiates the maturity of a strong, scarred man--a star suitable for epics past and epics to come. --By Richard Corliss
With a bracing lack of melodrama, Canadian Leslie Feist whisper-sings her way through a classic fadeaway ballad. The instrumentation is spare, and the lyrics are of the "Don't you wish/ We could forget that kiss" variety, but Feist's warm vocal performance makes failing relationships sound so romantic. --By Josh Tyrangiel