A memorable performance and portrait of a difficult, proud man consumed by anger and grief.
And "Judge Gladys Parks-Schultz" by Heidi Julavits devolves from a promising portrait of a difficult old woman into an overly ironic tale with a cheap, O. Henry-esque conclusion.
"Flamingo Court" is billed as "a comedy in three condos," but this middle piece is not comedic at all; it's a delicate portrait of a difficult moment, with Mr. Farr, as the woman's husband, trying to persuade his wife to go into a nursing home.
By working from a memoir of his flawed marriage written by his ex-wife, Jane Hawking (the second and more temperate of the two books she has written), screenwriter Anthony McCarten and director James Marsh have swerved a lot, if not quite all, of the cliches about all-too-human scientist-geniuses and they have created a startlingly grown-up portrait of a difficult, troubled relationship.
A biographical drama centering on a handful of periods in the life of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, this valentine to jazz in all its forms stars Don Cheadle in arguably the best performance of his decades-long career, as vibrant a portrait of a difficult, passionate, committed creative artist as anyone could wish for.
Read side by side, "Alex Liberman" and "It's Modern" sketch a vivid portrait of a brilliant, difficult, and definitively modern man.
The result is an extensive portrait of a brilliant and difficult man who, astonishing as it may now seem, spent most of his career battling the indifference of those in a position to help him preserve the irreplaceable.
One reason is that portraits are difficult, Mr. Wyeth said.
In The Witch's Brat, Rosemary Sutcliff creates a seductive, imaginative portrait of a charismatic and difficult man, gifted in demanding the best from people even when it's almost too painful to give.
Scharff's approach to Jefferson allows her to paint a portrait of a man who was passionate, vulnerable and charming but also hypocritical, difficult and demanding.
