Word: screenplays
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...what's a woman to do? Alvin Sargent's screenplay doesn't give her much of a chance. The mother represents a world that is inhumanly (and not very artfully) satirized throughout Ordinary People. She is a caricature--she hates her son for spilling his blood on her clean towels--so it's hard to take her or the conflicts she causes seriously. A great actress, and nothing less than a great actress, might have transcended her lines, brought something to the movie that was never there to begin with. Then again, greatness is quite a lot for a screenwriter...
...mother's characterization is the biggest problem with Sargent's screenplay, but not the only one. He and Redford try to work with symbols--the silver napkin rings, a doorbell, a lack of pets in the house, a broken plate--details that fail to accumulate, leaving a mess. It's all too obvious; just so the dialogue...
KAGEMUSHA Directed by Akira Kurosawa Screenplay by Akira Kurosawa and Masato...
Directed by Ronald Neame Screenplay by Brian Garfield and Bryan Forbes
Still Matthau is Matthau: a resourceful actor capable of charming away an audience's doubts over routinely efficient direction and a screenplay that mistakes convolution for cleverness. The sly pleasure he takes in staying at least two jumps ahead of his material is infectious. He does what a star must do: he creates the illusion that this film is better than it actually is. He also makes it look easy...