1.   But he exchanged the cathartic cumulative power of the blues -- and of his own songs -- for the nostalgia and bonhomie that thrilled the audience.

2.   But the result has considerable cumulative power and an unshakable tug of sadness as we get to know Isa and Marie and begin to perceive their fates.

3.   But the film, based on hundreds of interviews, achieves a cumulative power from the sheer weight of its sad, and increasingly strong, evidence.

4.   However well known the assorted Beat legends have become, there is a cumulative power to seeing so many of them evoked so colorfully in a single film.

5.   Second, because it tackles so many things, the film skips from one genre to the next, thus diluting its cumulative emotional power.

6.   The even tone contributes to its cumulative power, for Litwack rejects rhetoric in favor of quiet proof.

7.   Yet all discomfort fades before the cumulative power of the record that Klemperer has left for posterity.