Word: subplots
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Egoyan, however, does not indulge in the potentially lurid nature of this subject matter. He chronicles the tale with a dispassionate, removed manner that subordinates the disturbing incest subplot to the larger story. Egoyan appears interested in broader themes than the dark underside of small towns, a theme long exhausted. The horror of The Sweet Hereafter comes from what characters are prepared to do, rather than what they actually accomplish...
Moreover, the subplots are entirely incompatible. While the courtroom drama is an exercise in laughable platitudes, Rudy's quest to save the abused Danes is imbued with vicious reality. Scenes where Danes' husband confronts her with a baseball bat completely betray the light-hearted mood--and, in fact, underscore the inadequacy of the main storyline. Indeed, when the movie drops this subplot abruptly in order to focus on the legal battle, the film grinds to a screeching halt...
...beginning to starve because whites to the north have slaughtered the buffalo herds. The author develops a couple of minor figures we've met before, the fearsome chief Buffalo Hump and a quizzical tracker named Famous Shoes, who are among the best characters in the entire saga. A mad subplot involving a Central American sadist and a crazed New England scholar is good, chilling...
...arrange, opt for a lot of tight motion and leggy prancing-which is fine, but doesn't always serve the words. The odes and the dance are twin hypnoses, and only one spell at a time can take hold. The collective decision to explore the possibilities of a lesbian subplot between a female Dionysus and her followers fares unexpectedly well. When the five dancers crouch close together, it reminds one of that Herb Ritts photo with all those supermodels...
...bright spot amidst all of this failed moralistic posturing is a beautifully executed subplot involving the terminally ill patient (Wright) and the nurse (Mirren) who is eventually moved to help him end his life. A strong short film on euthanasia could have been made out of this storyline, but it only goes to waste here...