Word: minimalist
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...subtlety and effectiveness of the script and cinematography is complemented by the acting, which is surprisingly minimalist. Mark Wahlberg gives us a subtle but outstanding portrayal of Leo's fear and frustration. Less is more? In this case, yes; Wahlberg is very good at playing like he's trapped and angry without doing much more than making slight adjustments to the muscles on his face. It seems silly to read about, but it works. Much the same thing goes for the rest of the cast. Charlize Theron, ever the chameleon, plays the languid, dark-haired Erika; Faye Dunaway and James...
...belong almost exclusively to the actors. There is no lighting, no sound, no set; the only real evidence of staging are the lazy circles that the actors draw around each other as they pace the grass of the courtyard. And while Anouilh's script can certainly support a minimalist production, this one struggles to establish any sense of atmosphere. It is difficult to forget that one is in the middle of Adams House. The costuming is confusing: most costumes are appropriately spare, but they range incongruously from a generic pink Elizabethan dress for Harrington to the fashionable ensemble...
...fourth song, "How to Disappear Completely," is a beautiful ballad in the tradition of OK Computer's "Lucky" and The Bends' "Fake Plastic Trees." The minimalist lyrics and instrumentation are in concert with the song's theme of invisibility. However, there is still the rare indulgence; a gorgeous and unexpected melisma on "Strobe Lights" sets the song apart from its predecessors...
...Like Diana, the movie refuses to be confined by traditional definitions. With its charged brawls and minimalist cinematography, Girlfight is as much Jerry Springer as it is artsy indie flick. And while Diana's high school friends don't exactly look as saccharine as the Clueless chicks, Girlfight's youthful cast and plot often veer into teenybopper territory. Ultimately, however, Diana trades her sassy catfights for the more sophisticated gender-blind featherweight boxing circuit. Her subsequent struggle to be accepted by both the all-male boxing club and by her own father allows the film an emotional depth that strikes...
...city man (Behzad Dourani) comes to an isolated mountain village in Iranian Kurdistan. Why is he there? That is one unsolved mystery in this minimalist spellbinder. But suspense isn't Kiarostami's aim. He is after ordinary rapture, the gentle collision of distant cultures: a schoolboy, Farzad, who befriends the intruder; a girl reciting poetry as she milks a cow in a dark cellar. "Prefer the present!" cries an old man, and this drama, from one of the world's premier film fabulists, makes each moment and movement count. The rhythm of rural life has rarely seemed so lucid...