Word: towards
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...himself in 1988 and now finally takes another crack at it with this screen adaptation of beautiful downtown 1998. Many of Rabe's revisions heightened the themes of destiny and accident (e.g engineered or semi-engineered, whether Ryan's Bonnie or Anna Paquin's waif), which help point us toward the films philosophical crises and away from the emotional ravages. We don't have to excuse or condone the behavior of Eddie and the other rats to appreciate the central struggle Penn's character embodies...
...moments of comic relief, feelingsof disgust and revulsion overwhelm any possibleamusement. Additionally, a formulaic script leaveslittle for character development. Only Fern,(Whose desire to have friend is heartbreakingbecause her honest plights is ultimately taintedand controlled by Courtney), and Courtney herself,are characters which make you feel something otherthan neutral toward them...
...word about the plot and the criminals. I can't say I know what would be naturalistic or socially real in the underworld, and maybe it's just that all the baddies learn from TV these days anyway (see James Wood's vague gestures toward 70's Scorsese things in Another Day In Paradise). But, offering to help Liam pay a debt to the local hooligan head honcho, Joe does actually get to deliver A Package, ostensibly just driving a car back and forth, and, yes, Joe is not allowed to pull out of the deal once...
...edging toward naturalism at the same time...
Richard Wright says in How Bigger Was Born that "the environment supplies the instrumentalities through which the organism express itself, and if that environment is warped or tranquil, the mode and manner of behavior will be affected toward deadlocking tensions or orderly fulfillment and satisfaction...