Word: toning
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...violence of their criminal associates and the devilish complexity of the heist. Hiller's contributions to the proceedings are as witty as the toys he builds for True, and the denouement of the whole tale is gratifying. But it is constant, often startling, shifts in the film's emotional tone, the economy of its writing and its lively movement through the - bleak London landscape that lend it true distinction...
...even in Seattle, not all culinary creativity meets with equal success. Take Le Gourmand, which despite its French name offers the local cuisine. Run for three years by Bruce Naftaly, 34, and Robin Sanders, 35, the restaurant produces lackluster food and some needless extra irritants. The tone of service is both chummy and didactic. An unsmilingly intent preppie waiter offers the "observation" that the regular coffee has far more flavor than the espresso. As for ice cream, one can have it "nestled" beside a poached pear, but in the waiter's opinion, "it is good enough to stand...
...free-associate: Andy Warhol and what? Close your eyes. Do silver-and- rosewood tea sets come to mind? How about a Superman Touch-Tone phone or a frontal photo of a naked Yul Brynner? Allow your imagination to wander across Eskimo bone masks, prehistoric pottery and World War II medals. Try these: 18- karat-gold nail scissors and wooden merry-go-round horses...
That is Kazan's truest tone -- flat and harsh, undercutting his own attempts at rationalization with the bitterly truthful ring he cannot keep out of his voice. It is the voice of a man with no patience for poetry (he confesses that when he staged Archibald MacLeish's J.B. he simply moved the actors whenever he was bored, which was approximately every three lines) and no patience for ideological impositions, intellectual cant or institutional stability. It is perhaps a peasant's voice, valuing survival above all. But surely it is an actor's voice, one that knows it is impossible...
Waters is a complex character and Johnson skillfully handles all the facets of Waters' personality. The sharp, biting tone Johnson uses when speaking to his men reverberates effectively through the theater and convinces the audience that Waters is completely insensitive and entirely too demanding. When a higher ranking white officer forces Waters to buckle under Johnson shows Waters' softer side. Johnson's on-target facial expressions convey Waters' feelings of pain and humiliation to the audience...