Pesky

pesky







Y

D



–adjective Informal.

annoyingly troublesome: bothered by a pesky [fly].  



Synonyms:

vexatious, irksome, bothersome, pestiferous.



Origin:

1765–75; alter. of pesty





 　

A series of incidents in which the presence of a pesky [mouse] and the disappearance of a watch take on cumulative narrative weight, Distant does coalesce [into] something—but what? 



The naive Yusuf dreams of going abroad but can't find a job that will take him there; Mahmut's ex-wife is moving to Canada with her new husband; the photographer is unable to form another relationship and is increasingly unhappy with the commercial aspect of his work.



Is it possible to make a rich and satisfying movie about loss and emptiness? Reviewing Distant when it screened at the New York Film Festival, The New York Times deemed it dreary; like Jafar Panahi's comparably modest, deadpan, and artful Crimson Gold, also an NYFF alum, Distant could easily fail to attract an audience. 



(Given their geopolitical significance, Turkey and Iran should be of enormous interest to Americans, but as David Denby's dim dismissal of the "annoying" Kiarostami some years ago illustrated, our educated middle class has precious little interest in theirs.) 





brogue 

rogue 

schmuck 

skunk 

rascal

Latter's characterization, restrained and chilling at first, unfortunately becomes too broad, almost that of a jolly [rascal], effect being to flaw the dramatic impact at times.



grumpy 

curmudgeon 

cantankerous 

grouch

But Leopold, an insurance salesman, is an insufferable [grouch] and petty tyrant.



bumpkin 

although it is inevitable that the fastidious Mahmut will grow increasingly irritated with the [gauche] bumpkin camped out in his spare room.

rustic 

yokel

boor

They snickered and whispered and made [boors] of themselves.

churl

He was a churl in his [affections].  

isn't it [churlish] to ask why they didn't take less time to do what everyone can do? 



obtuse

crass

the crass methods of [political] hucksters.

The sheer [crassness] of some of the scenarios -- 

This is one film that could [benefit], dramatically, from the gutsy decision to become [crasser] and more graphic



cad 

callow Nubile

fop

The weather girl and the [fop]: Ludivine Sagnier and Benoît Magimel

given a memorable foppish [swagger] by Benoît Magimel,

As for Paul, he's such a vain, [preening], [foppish] creature that Gabrielle should see right through him -- which she does, in fact.

twerp

nudnik



knave

Our Lady of Humanitarian Narcissism here [endures] another dreadful fate: losing her child to a mob of [knaves]

miscreant

not the immoral miscreant and lawbreaker his detractors [color] him to be.

Churl