Word: turgidity
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...perhaps deserved: he had had the energy to people a big novel with a lot of boldly drawn characters and keep them moving through incidents and operatic set pieces. Beyond that, he was a man of sense and rugged principle-though his heroes all seemed to employ the same turgid speechwriter...
...depiction of contrasting periods in David's life poses the play's central question-how man reconciles his free will with fate-with a lightness that evokes peaceful thought rather than turgid philosophy. In the first episodes David is called to the court of Saul, where his youth and charisma overcome all obstacles in his preordained drive to supremacy. The second act concerns David's own downfall at the hands of his son Absalom...
...rate, young Whalen is an ex-junky, an inept lecher, and a petulant, sadistic jerk. Even such a figure might conceivably be observed to good effect, but Kosinski perceives nothing of unusual interest in the homunculus he has created. A succession of brief, turgid scenes demonstrates Whalen's emptiness, a quality that is never in doubt; nothing in the book offers any insight into the author's reasons for pursuing such an unrewarding project. One of Kosinski's few gestures toward literary excellence amounts to a stylistic tic: his repeated use of Grim Bits from Mother Nature...
...sympathy for an artist by the sordid expose of private scandal. Russell twists the facts and fabricates the milliew. The result is an hysterical film, rather than a film about hysteria. Even worse, Russell revels in his gossip--he has a fiesta turning a genuinely moving story into a turgid peephole show...
...those few seconds Weld touches some of Maria's torment and vulnerability. Perkins has a little more success in the role of the producer, which is less complex and demanding. Both he and Weld struggle to bring some depth of feeling to the trite and turgid proceedings...