He is, at the same time, a youthful figure with something of the schoolboy's sly, chaffing manner.
His sly, slurring manner is never more than an inch away from the comic, and, because he is so unmilitary in his bearing, some of the sting is taken out of the mayhem he wreaks.
All this is funny, in a sly, disdainful manner: Coppola has a disillusioned eye for the vapid luxe of movie-colony rituals like publicity tours and the ridiculously easy way that movie stars get laid.
This is not to disparage her efforts here, which bring old and new elements together in typical Soulquarian style, from the itchy, Curtis-style Chicago shuffle-groove of "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long" to the stripped-back, languid skeletal funk of "Love", where the groove hangs lazily on the first beat in classic Sly Stone manner, with Badu's vocals like mesmeric vocal incantations.
She has always hated Amy, one of them with hen's eyes and sly, over-gracious manners.
Another surprising quality to emerge, in a book that works both as a paean to art and beauty and a subtly sly comedy of manners, is the flair that the host shows for running the household, once he realizes that being taken hostage has ruined his political career.
They are stories that reveal an emotional depth new to the writings of the usually cerebral Mr. Barnes, who has been best known in the past for dazzling literary entertainments like "Flaubert's Parrot" and sly comedies of manners like "Talking It Over".
He insinuated all manner of sly caricature, disgust and fury into many of his renderings.
He was initially shy, but you always felt that behind the quizzical, sly, humorous eye and manner lay a man of philosophical bent, perhaps amazed himself at what his genius had led him to achieve.
