Word: poignant
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There is no doubt that Gary Oldman's poignant, visceral portrait of family life in seedy South London is an impressive piece of work--not to mention a sterling, writing/directing debut for Oldman. Nil takes no prisoner. From the outset, the film unleashes a barrage of unpleasantness, in the form of nonstop expletives, explosive bouts of chillingly realistic domestic violence and frequent screaming. The contaminating influence of American pop culture is everywhere, as indicated by choice shots of American brand names (Ford automobiles, Prozac "happy pills"), clips from American movies and glimpses of American cultural icons. Through a gray haze...
That is just one parable of the car as an accomplice of history. Other stories are poignant (the Okies on the road in the Dust Bowl), and some are epic (the jeep in the war). The symbiotic ecology of car and economy, which continues to this day, gave rise to the motel (the first chain, Holiday Inn, started in 1952) and to the Golden Arches (Ray Kroc bought the fledgling roadside food chain of the McDonald brothers in 1961). Las Vegas grew out of traffic, with Californians driving in on Highway 91 at the rate of 20,000 a weekend...
...victims of the bombing and to explain why it happened when and where it did and the effect it had on the civil rights movement. The film was briefly in theatrical release last year, and has just been nominated for an Oscar. Shifting smoothly from the most poignant details of the girls' lives--Scout badges, a first pair of grownup shoes--to the actions of historical figures like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and George Wallace, Lee succeeds in giving a subtle, intelligent and moving account of an event that starkly pitches good against evil. In his public statements...
...rules. A compass to steer us through this everlasting night." It's typical of this intense, unsettling play that the most truthful (and very nearly the only coherent) thoughts are expressed by the character who's a stand-in for Satan. The rest are a desperate, surprisingly poignant lot who are powerless to resist their appetites yet aware that facing up to them is part of the struggle toward salvation. That struggle, and this evening, are hard to shake...
...Letters answers that question, but not in a way that is likely to satisfy those looking for gossip or breast-baring confessions. The 88 poems assembled here--all but two of them, The Pan and The Inscription, addressed to Plath as "you"--combine to form an often harrowing and poignant narrative in which the central characters are doomed to their fates before the story begins...