Word: reliefs
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...roomablaze, Depeche Mode provided the perfectcomplement of frenetic entertainment to the othergroups' down-to-earth nature. With twosynthesizers, a spastic guitarist/vocalist deckedout in Ramones style, a deft percussionist,dancing feet and techno lullabies titled"Sardines" and "Depeche Mode is Not for You,"Depeche Mode was a necessary comic relief thatdeserved third place in the judging...
...George and The Crucible. Whereas with those films, the attention centered on the passionate and dramatic acting, his sparse directing style makes this movie feel slightly sitcom-ish. The scenes don't particularly flow well (some parts scream for commercial breaks), and it jumps from melodrama to obvious comic relief without much attempt at subtlety. Hytner seems lost as to what genre the movie actually belongs in. Rare scenes echo with the light, schmaltzy appeal of a romantic comedy, some seem amateurish (reminiscent of high school plays), and others are bogged down in unnecessarily messy melodrama. The movie reeks...
...script is schizophrenic. While Macaulay's book is known for its intensive character studies of Nina and George, Wendy Wasserstein's script idles with the addition of random, irrelevant characters. Alan Alda and Allison Janey appear in small supporting roles to fit the screen with comic relief whenever the cheese becomes unbearable. Nigel Hawthorne, a Hytner mainstay, is thrown into the movie for no apparent reason (other than to give a tedious monologue where he works in the title of the movie.) Even worse, the script is unsure of itself-the declarations of love between various sets of characters...
Nonetheless, it comes as a relief when, in the play's second half, the performance style swiftly sobers up, allowing us to reconnect with the story's plot line and characters--elements that have been largely drowned out during the first half in the loud static of eighth-grade toilet humor. But the bizarrely goofy comedy of the production becomes all the more surreal in contrast with the newly straight-faced drama, providing some startlingly memorable moments: Kirk Hanson '99 as the apothecary Cerimon, hamming it up as he restores the drowned queen Thaisa to life ("She's ALIIIIVE!"); Michael...
...insolubility of Eliot's thought is not a result of Tadjedin's failure to properly direct The Cocktail Party. Rather, it is its greatest strength. It is comforting at least that the characters Eliot has created for us are just as bewildered as we are--yet, it offers no relief...