Word: bleakness
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...note vibrates, unexpectedly, in memoirs by two veteran newspaper columnists, Pete Hamill (A Drinking Life; Little, Brown; 265 pages; $21.95) and Art Buchwald (Leaving Home; Putnam; 254 pages; $22.95). Both men record bruisingly uncushioned childhoods shadowed by their families' bleak vulnerability in the Depression -- an era that still accounts for more residual haunted notes than Americans realize. Both men are New Yorkers. Buchwald is deadpan-Jewish-funny, with an underlayer of almost quizzical pain; Hamill is Irish saloon-polemical, with an exuberance undermined by a taste for boozy lyricism, machismo and occasional self-pity...
...Gerry's bleak existence in prison begins with his meek, aging father (Pete Postlethwaite). The two, who were never very close before, suddenly grow dependent upon one another, venting their anger, frustrations, and love. They are clearly of two generations: While Guiseppe Conlon prays with his rosary, Gerry trips on acid. When without proper medical care, Guiseppe's heart condition becomes critical, Gerry must grow up. He does things he would never have done before: He rubs menthol on his father's chest, saves the life of a warden, and begins to cooperate with the young lawyer, Gareth Peirce (Emma...
This peculiarity of the British sense of humour is important to keep in mind when viewing "High Hopes." Otherwise Mike Leigh's sketch of the state of class warfare in London might become unbearably bleak. The film centers on Cyril and Shirley, a couple who live in a high-rise block, work as motorcycle couriers and are haunted by Cyril's dogged refusal to start a family. Although Leigh is sympathetic to Shirley's need for a child, the family portraits he draws would be enough to put anyone...
While such efforts hold promise for the future, the current situation is bleak for most of the country's homeless. Some, like James Morse, a 38-year- old who makes his way along Chicago's streets spitting, urinating and shouting "Some money, folks, just a dollar," are too far gone to recognize the depth of their suffering. Others, such as Jack Rumpf, 34, know exactly how low they have sunk. Every afternoon, Rumpf stands on the median of a busy Los Angeles intersection, holding a sign that declares him a homeless veteran who would be happy to work for money...
...candor may stem from desperation. There are chronic food shortages (except in tourist hotels) and a virtual absence of such necessities as toilet paper and toothpaste. The capital's cityscape is bleak. "Havana is absolutely empty at night. There are no cars, no lights and no people on the streets, except for prostitutes," McGeary says. Yet most Cubans refuse to lose hope. Their vitality is what adds so much intrigue to the unfolding saga of the western hemisphere's last remaining Communist outpost...