Iowa Writes

CHANSI LONG
The Faces of Cinema—according to David Thomson


Pale faces. Grave faces. Sickly-saintly pale faces
Beaten-up faces. Faces with gravity.
A curiously swollen, pale face
A pale face staring out of the night
A taut face. A watchful face. An unclouded face
A roaring black face. An unsmiling face
A disbelieving face. A face that was never quite young or sociable
A face that shown with secretive light, as if reflected from another reality.
A haunted face
The face that gazed out balefully over his shoulder
Changing faces. Aging faces. A Cheshire cat face
A face a wreck of smashed dreams
A brooding face that went sour with dismay
A face so dazzling at 30, faded so much by fifty
A face that could slip readily into a gloating smile or a contemptuous sneer

Pale faces. Grave faces. Sickly-saintly pale faces
Beaten-up faces. Faces with gravity.
A curiously swollen, pale face
A pale face staring out of the night
A taut face. A watchful face. An unclouded face
A roaring black face. An unsmiling face
A disbelieving face. A face that was never quite young or sociable
A face that shown with secretive light, as if reflected from another reality.
A haunted face
The face that gazed out balefully over his shoulder
Changing faces. Aging faces. A Cheshire cat face
A face a wreck of smashed dreams
A brooding face that went sour with dismay
A face so dazzling at 30, faded so much by fifty
A face that could slip readily into a gloating smile or a contemptuous sneer
A face that did not become a face until age 50
A face that could sweat and seethe under the Mediterranean sun of spaghetti Westerns, but long before that it had been a face that casting directors would pick out of a crowd
A face that knows its place in the crowd
A Face In the Crowd
Angels with Dirty Faces. Baby Face. The Mirror Has Two Faces. Naked Face
A tragic sensible face
A photographed face
A face with cheeks carved by love's gaze
A face that might have been cut out of raw wood with a hatchet
A rough, hewn face. An uncannily intelligent face
A little boy's face with a wicked grin to go with it
Long faces, narrow faces, outraged faces, ancient faces, glum faces
Reserved faces that evoke all the wildest emotions of the spirit
Narrow, nearly gaunt faces
Fresh faced. Straight faced. Baby faced
Elderly and baby faced at the same time
A face weathered by the sun
A drawn face
A face frozen by so many romantic leads
A rapturous face in a collie's mare
A face of sly malice
A face unclouded by thought
An effulgent, heart shaped face
A mother's boy's face: gaunt, narcissistic horse's head flabby with self pity and butterfly lips
The face of heavy, swollen passion brought on by mirror gazing
A face like a used newspaper
A face like the road in the West
A saucy, knowing and eager face
An expressive face with doleful eyes unable to forget pain
A squeezed rueful weary face
A flat, squeezed face
A face squeezed like a lemon
The faces . . . of spectators, still by contemplation
An adorable oval face
An unflappable face perfectly suited for ignoring the elephantine and nonsensical plot
A small, pretty face: a little pinched round the nose and slanted in the eyes
A face that could bring Bill Clinton to silence
A pensive face
A face that showed the dreadful anxiety of thought
A wretched face. A round face. A cast-plastic face.
A wide-eyed face. A restrained face
Attentive faces. Mournful faces. Haunted, gazing out of darkness faces
An exceptionally fresh, vivid face
A face simpering at the silliness
An elastic face
A face of a hawk
The natural face of vulnerability
A graven face with little humor or judgment
An unusually broad face
A triangular face
A grubby face. A baby face. A grubby baby face
A pumped-up face
A puffed-up face
Wolf-faced. Poker-faced. Two faced
Restrained faces
Horrendous faces
Beautiful sober faces
A face as sharp and watchful as ever, more drawn than ripe
A dull face with a tempestuous romantic passage
A smiling face that ought to be on the Euro coin with which film business is done
A closed face, guarding his own private image of the world
An exceptionally fresh, vivid face
A round face, a little swollen, like a doll soaked in tears or straining to hold back crying
A crinkled face made morose
A poignant face . . . (carrying) the burden of the artist who feels unable to participate in life
A pinched face, blank but impatient
A face wanting to be amused; and if that is not impossible, to be amusing.
Great watching, listening, attending faces
Averted faces
A tidy wrapped face
A fallen face
A solemn face
A piously cheerful face
A haggard face
A hurt face forever being shut out of family conclaves
An interesting and ambivalent face
One of life's most amazing faces
A face that had seen hell (and was) sharing the shock with us
A fickle face
A sensual face
The face in the dreams of American soldiers
Faces in the firelight
A face with a vastly permanent smile
A face in repose, sulky and calculating
Stark-faced
Plain-faced
Parch-faced
Sweet-faced
Whey-faced
A posed face
An attractive, humorous but skeptical face
Still faces
Exquisite faces
A sharp face made for film
A ruined face. A battered, wry face. A fierce, twisted desperate face
A smooth, rounded face
A sharp, soft skinned face
A face of one of Stendhal's young men ready to take Holy Orders
A face waiting for some attitude to inhabit
A face that gazes out of its screen across that desolate wintry beach
A face alight with lewdness
A harrowed face
A responsive face
Alarmed faces
Avid faces
Interesting faces
Good faces
Faces to adorn stories

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About Iowa Writes

Since 2006, Iowa Writes has featured the work of Iowa-identified writers (whether they have Iowa roots or live here now) and work published by Iowa journals and publishers on The Daily Palette. Iowa Writes features poetry, fiction, or nonfiction twice a week on the Palette.

In November of 2008, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Iowa City, Iowa, the world's third City of Literature, making the community part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

Iowa City has joined Edinburgh, Scotland and Melbourne, Australia as UNESCO Cities of Literature.

Find out more about submitting by contacting iowa-writes@uiowa.edu


CHANSI LONG

Chansi Long is an essayist and an MFA candidate at the University of Iowa. She is a graduate of Baker University in north Kansas, and she has spent seven years working as a journalist for the Lawrence Journal-World.

This page was first displayed
on April 06, 2013

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