Ondaatje demanded a similar leap in The English Patient - after all, did the gathering of his characters in the Villa San Girolamo not seem a trifle too convenient?
I fail to see how there will conceivably be a better gathering of magnificent character actors: Powers Boothe, Brad Dourif, Ricky Jay, Brian Cox, Jeffrey Jones, Paula Malcomson, John Hawkes, William Sanderson, Titus Welliver, Robin Weigert – astonishing as the ravaged, hammered, indomitable Calamity Jane – and, of course, Ian McShane.
Tonally, the episode was dominated by the sentimental machinations of the sideways story line, in which Desmond continued to act as a sort of spiritual mother hen or reunion organizer: gathering his flock of characters and leading them to reclaim their memories of the island, one after another, like nonbelievers seeing the light at a tent meeting.
The preferred settings for Monogram movies included cruise ships, boarding houses and nightclubs, closed environments that provided basic dramatic justification for gathering a full cast of characters in one place.
Star Trek fans made history on Saturday by breaking the record for the largest gathering of people dressed as characters from the TV series at the "Destination Star Trek London" convention.
Santacon, a mass gathering of Santas and assorted Christmas characters, I learned, doesn't just take place in New York City, but around the world -- in parks, in bars, on street corners.
The eager student will learn a fair bit about the history of the language and how its array of characters and tones were systematized, all the while gathering insights into the country's customs and culture.
Next, think of characters.
