Word: scripting
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Carolyn Rendell's direction skillfully overcame a number of potential problems. The script, for example, is highly analytical and often cynical; the general good humor and depth of Rendell's interpretation prevented a potentially self-indulgent, whiny production. Resisting the temptation to flatten the main characters into a series of caricatures, Rendell infused them with self-consciousness and deep-seated vulnerability...
...form works because our memories do replay moments from our pasts like a film; rarely do they occur to us in sequential order. Director Wayne Wang weaves the nonlinear script together exquisitely, and we recognize the influence of producer Oliver Stone in sweeping shots of landscape and lavish depictions of the costumes of upper-class, old-world China...
Despite the many engrossing performances, thefilm fails to overcome its structural problems.Although tongue-in-cheek humor counters much ofits sentimentality, the movie ultimatelyincorporates too many looming issues for it toescape cliche. At times the script just tries abit too hard: in an attempt to make Sonnydifferent from all the other mobsters in previousfilms, Palminteri has made Sonny a gangster who'sread Machiavelli in the joint and can now lectureabout the distinction between feared and hatedleaders. Unfortunately, the weak ending, whichtries to tie all the ends together in one fellswoop, does nothing to resurrect the film...
These moments stick out only because the film normally progresses so smoothly. On that score the actors and crew deserve congratulation. But their streamlined performance highlights a script that is smooth going on downright flat...
McEwan fleshes out this skeletal scenario with a hearty dose of psychobabble. Freudian guilt complexes, Buddhist cycles of reincarnation and wells of spiritual self-empowerment roam the script untamed. But eclectic psychodramatic conceits are no substitute for substance...