James Levine drew rich colors from the orchestra, yet his slow tempos contributed to the grimness of the night.

NEWYORKER: Fiasco

The grimness is alleviated by absurdist humour, grotesque situations and snappy rejoinders reminiscent of Saul Bellow or, rather, Woody Allen.

ECONOMIST: Novels from the Netherlands

That's not to suggest that Bachmann has lost his gift for grimness.

NPR: Touring the World, but Always Lost

Both groups are Nuer, but hate each other with a grimness that has come to characterise relations between many pastoralist peoples in Africa.

ECONOMIST: Treating both sides of an intractable conflict

The earnestness of attitude, the grimness of the humor, and the careful compositions will perplex audiences too young to have seen Bergman movies and sadden, mostly by force of nostalgia, those devoted moviegoers who were raised on little else.

NEWYORKER: Faithless