Word: somber
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...made sense that he reduced his world to father and son, with the Man emerging heroic. Here, when the Man speaks of carrying "the fire," i.e., the conviction of humanity, it rings more hollow, even though Mortensen grapples well with the potential corniness of that line (he gives a somber, deeply affecting performance). The wasteland that surrounds them--the sun's fire extinguished, the forests burning--makes forcing someone you love to endure it seem like a selfish act. "I don't want to just survive," the Woman tells the Man, and The Road creates such a seamless vision...
...cinematographer will bring in the leading actors' stand-ins to light and frame the shot. The opening image of Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces shows this process with a stand-in for Penélope Cruz. Then the star actress enters the frame. She looks so somber, as if she's about to read a death sentence...
Last Monday, the generally sage New York Times columnist David Brooks drew a somber line in the sand for health-care reform: “We all have to decide what we want at this moment in history, vitality or security. We can debate this or that provision, but where we come down will depend on that moral preference.” In the eyes of Brooks and a great many others, reform may very well create a more decent society—but only at the expense of economic dynamism and our oh-so-youthful American spirit...
Moverman underscores the perpetual untimeliness of death in day-to-day life. The brief and rare use of music is entirely diegetic, stemming only from sources within the scenes, such as a barroom jukebox or a beaten-up car stereo. Montgomery’s first somber exchange with Stone, for example, is set to a cheery Beach Boys tune. The movie also resists the impulse to tailor the style of scenes to their emotional underpinnings; in one scene, a woman discovers that her husband has died on the sunniest, most peaceful of early fall days. With a careful hand...
...ceremony, a modest affair by Afghan standards, was a celebration of traditional headgear. Tribesmen from the east sported vast swaths of butter-yellow silk looped into view-blocking turbans, while their southern cousins opted for the more somber black and gray. Northerners were identified by their flat-topped woolen pakols; the urban élites by their peaked karakul caps. They were outdone only by the portraits of Afghanistan's former rulers that lined the walls of the reception hall - some of those wore helmets. The first few rows were occupied by suited foreign dignitaries, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary...