Word: tropes
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Indignation” opens, but the novel itself never so much as glimpses the heights to which he seems to aspire. It’s a cliché for artists in their old age to become obsessed with death, and Roth has done well to invert that trope and return to his youth (even if his protagonist dies anyway). But “Indignation” flies by so inexplicably that whatever intention Roth had–whether to explore consciousness, to meditate on his own life, or to tease out an historical period obscured by cultural memory?...
...enlists the help of dimwitted Chad. The scheme soon spirals out of control, resulting in tragedy. The humor of the film is derived from the irony of the plot; the characters think they are in control, but they most certainly are not. This is a familiar Coen brothers trope, explored in numerous films such as “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski.” What makes those films successful, however, is the skilful juxtaposition between a fatalistic plot and wonderfully imaginative, fully conceived characters—the latter of which...
...marvelously dense with imagery. The Wrestler is the first Aronofsky film to be visually inert. His main camera habit is to follow Randy, just his imposing back, as he trudges through corridors toward another fight. (Martin Scorsese virtually patented that shot, in Raging Bull and Goodfellas). The trope does pay off later in the film, when Randy, briefly retired, winds up behind a deli counter. That's a deft touch, as is the easy camaraderie Randy shares with the other veteran showmen. But Aronofsky's main contribution was to lion-tame a jolting performance out of a forgotten hero...
...Meanwhile, the future of Hirst's market is also affected by the so far inconclusive fate of his most highly publicized project, a diamond-encrusted skull he unveiled last year called For the Love of God. As a trope for human folly and cupidity, a glittering death's head is as tired as it gets. Hirst's twist, such as it was, was to have the thing manufactured at a stratospheric level of crass luxury - a platinum skull layered with 8,601 diamonds - then to offer the poisoned apple to the world's billionaires for $100 million. At that price...
...right, it's the old Eros-Thanatos trope. But no one has addressed it with Roth's passionate realism. Or with his conviction that the result of this conflict can only be the terrible muddle that finally elbows aside the previously preoccupying sexual shambles. That's especially true of The Dying Animal, when mortality settles on the wrong person at the wrong time. There are things wrong with Coixet's movie. Ben Kingsley is, of course, a fine actor, but in this instance there seems to me something smug, held back, in his work. Roth's Kepesh, at least...