Flinch, Wince & Blench

flinch







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–verb (used without object) 

1. to draw back or shrink, as from what is dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant. 

2. to shrink under pain; wince. (畏縮)

3. Croquet. (槌球) to let the foot slip from the ball in the act of croqueting.  



–verb (used with object) 

4. to draw back or withdraw from.  

–noun 

5. an act of flinching.  



—Synonyms 

1. recoil (回報), withdraw, blench. (迴避)



wince

–verb (used without object) 

1. to draw back 

or 

tense the body, as from pain or from a blow; start; flinch. 

–noun 

2. a wincing or shrinking movement; a slight start.



　  

"If you were any thinner," Stevie tells him, "you wouldn't exist." Trevor Reznik weighs 121 pounds and you wince when you look at him. He is a lonely man, disliked at work, up all night, returning needfully to two women who are kind to him: Stevie, a hooker, and Marie, the waitress at the all-night diner out at the airport. "I haven't slept in a year," he tells Marie.



flimsy

a flimsy [structure]

a flimsy [excuse]

the new movie has the [flimsiness] of a comedy from that era, and half of the films that Mike and Jerry seek to revitalize are of similar vintage.

filch

flinch 

Shelley never flinches [from] how horrible he is, 

she allows him to have [a] [humanizing] emotional fragility that Jeremy Sisto plays with great skill. 



cringe (←) He always cringes before the [boss].

cower (↑) The [dog] cowered when its [master] beat it.

flinty 

flint, esp. in hardness. a flinty [heart].

granite

with granite-[hard] bullet play.

He was a despot with a [heart] of granite.

Tenuous





 

The character of Earl, Jenna's threatening and pitiful husband, showcase[s] everything great about the film. He could easily have become a two-dimensional monster, and while Shelley never flinches [from] how horrible he is, she allows him to have a humanizing emotional fragility that Jeremy Sisto plays with great skill. 





　

The screenplay never flinches [from] the obvious pain the characters clearly feel as they act on, or ignore, their instincts. Allen offers no simple answers; being responsible can lead to a life of dull predictability and longing for what might have been, and following your heart will inevitably damage the people you once loved. 



It's a beautifully sad premise that, with more compelling central figures, might have become a true late-period Allen masterpiece. As it stands, Vicky Cristina Barcelona offers proof that Allen is still thinking about life and love, even if he isn't thinking as hard as he should about filmmaking.