Ken Fox

The film doesn't dwell on bad feelings, and anyone looking for lurid details won't find them. But fans will love the live footage of this still-powerful band ripping through a virtual greatest-hits set.

This superbly played film, directed with remarkable skill for a first-time feature filmmaker, is truly an adult drama.

It's an engaging diversion from a master director who, at the ripe age of 78, appears to be once again at the top of his game.

An even sweeter and lighter whipped confection than "Legally Blonde," this hugely enjoyable sequel serves up a generous second helping of the ingredient that made the original such an irresistible hit.

Marvelously entertaining.

The film's potshots are perfectly aimed.

Damon, an underrated comic actor, is particularly good as an ultra-rationalist who'll scream like a girl and run from anything he can't immediately explain.

The drawn-out effect is deliberate -- director Babak Payami wants his audience to concentrate on the characters' inner development and their isolation -- but his strategy slows the film down to a crawl.

The film, beautifully shot in widescreen by Luca Bigazzi, is surprisingly accessible and always engaging, if ultimately tragic.

There's a telling disjunction between the dismal lives of Jia's characters and the optimism of China's officially sunny advance into the 21st century, and their helplessness often becomes a pathetic pantomime.

Often fascinating.

Fly's striking, often suspenseful drama has all the elements of a Shakespearean tragedy: an insecure young prince who must prove his mettle and loses his soul; a cruel, manipulative queen who cares only for power; a close adviser whose motives aren't always clear.

One is left with an unsettling ambivalence about the night's awful events -- there are no absolute villains here, just as there are no total victims -- and much of the credit is due to the performances.

Ratanaruang's simple willingness to tie different strands of melancholy melodramas and violent yakuza thrillers together with flashes of surreal mystery immediately sets him apart from the herd.

The atmosphere is once again black, creepy and unsettlingly elegant, lending this twisted tale of psychological dominance and submission a patina of anxiety and dread.

Without slavishly imitating the photographer's distinctive style, Almereyda also manages to connect his own images to all that's "Egglestonian" in the photographer's world.

Flawed, but fascinating, this somber adaptation of David Guterson's award-winning novel is sometimes sluggish and difficult to follow, but it's also unexpectedly poetic.

MacGregor demonstrates just how far he's come as an actor. Swinton, meanwhile, adds another notch to a resume already crowded with good performances.

cinematographer Mo-gai Li's keen sense of color balance and composition make this freaky fairy tale the most beautiful - if not the scariest - horror movie in ages.

An extremely funny, ultimately heartbreaking look at life in contemporary China.

What's surprising is how bright and engaging these kids are, and for once you're left wanting more.

Fascinating on a number of levels, and deeply disturbing through and through.

Wrenching documentary.

Further proof that so-so books often make better movies than good ones.

The result is an interesting, if slightly unbalanced, hybrid: a social problem film with the warm heart of a deeply felt love story.

Slick and surprisingly emotional documentary is really a rare, optimistic critique of globalization.

With this perceptive, however bloody, film, Ishii makes it disturbingly clear that a culturally instilled sense of shame and fear of being shunned mean that women like Chihiro are doubly victimized, both by their attackers and the society that should protect them.

This touching documentary is many things at once: a fascinating biography, a gorgeously shot travelogue, a provocative disquisition on the relevance of architecture and, above all, the record of a son's poignant search for a father.

Best of all is Tsugumi's wild performance.

Jonathan Demme gets personal with this affectionate tribute to courageously outspoken radio broadcaster Jean Dominique, the pro-democracy advocate whose unflagging support for president Jean-Bertrand Aristide eventually cost him his life.

Levinson brings it all back home to Baltimore and delivers his funniest and most heartfelt film since "Diner."

The film becomes a complex tissue of intersecting lives, but Gleize handles each developing story with amazing ease, and the fabulist touches are the icing on a very tasty cake.

Seriously sexy stuff from -- surprise -- the former-Soviet Union.

An entertaining, insightful and handsomely illustrated "Freud for Dummies."

A riveting account of one of the most extraordinary events in U.S. immigration history.

A touching examination of the ravages of Alzheimer's disease, made even more so by the extraordinary chemistry between Swedish actor Sven Wollter and his real-life wife, Viveka Seldahl, who died shortly after the film was completed.

Negrin's film is a well-deserved tribute to a principled man who dared to act when principles no longer counted for anything.

The film is an original work by a filmmaker who throughout his career has absorbed the best of what Ozu had to teach, and as such it stands as beautiful tribute from one master to another.

Presents the salient points of this troubling case with gripping concision.

The constant flow of background images can be distracting, but this is nonetheless a fascinating film that offers an unexpected and valuable perspective on the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict.

Any similarities to "Northern Exposure" are undoubtedly coincidental, but the comparison is entirely apt.

These three films form a remarkably cohesive whole, both visually and thematically, through their consistently sensitive and often exciting treatment of an ignored people.

Somewhere beyond the extremes of "Fatal Attraction" and "In The Company of Men" festers this elegantly composed, outrageously violent psycho thriller.

Who knew marching bands could be so sexy?

Chereau boldly risks alienating his audience by presenting serious illness and all its attendant indignities with an unflinching clarity that's becoming a hallmark of his work.

Hugely entertaining, globe-trotting documentary.

Toni Collette's extraordinary performance, Alison Tilson's sensitive script and Ian Baker's sensational cinematography add up to a surprising film.

This unusually rich film tackles not only the social structuring of criminality and sexuality but race as well, and explores the ways science has been used to justify the ruthless pursuit of market interests and, eventually, apartheid itself.

By alternating between Jackson's and Kim's point of view, McCann shows both sides of the story: the panicky fear of the paranoid schizophrenic -- the arrhythmic editing and Marshall Grupp's masterful sound design convey a sense of dislocation and shifting reality -- and the bewilderment and frustration of the people who try to help him.

It's curious that the filmmakers choose to end the story without reporting on Weatherwoman Kathy Boudin's involvement in an ill-fated 1981 robbery of a Brinks truck in New York State.

The cast is similarly impressive; they're American through and through, and thankfully refrain from affecting anything remotely resembling a British stage accent.

Each woman is a terrific interview, and if the climactic vision of these still beautiful ladies gliding through the water doesn't bring a lump to your throat, you surely have no heart.

Raunchy without ever devolving into flat-out prurience, Berger's oddly sweet comedy perfectly captures the naivete of the era and the unexpected wholesomeness of some of its adult entertainment.

Perfect introduction to a remarkable career, and a moving memorial to a remarkable filmmaker.

Eye-opening documentary by New Zealand filmmaker Alison Maclean.

Make sure you catch this spooky and strangely moving portrait of this highly unusual artist while you can.

A wild, endlessly inventive romp set in a post-war world so full of machine-guns and hand-grenades that people barely flinch when one or the other goes off.

For all its harsh realism, the film flows like a dream, albeit a highly unpleasant one.

One of the many terrible ironies laid out in vivid detail by Justman and her subjects is that many of those accused were among the Party's most ardent members: Jews who wholeheartedly embraced Communism.

Rather than trading le Carré's downbeat but agonizingly true-to-life ending for something more palatable, Meirelles has crafted a rare sort of thriller that refuses to resolve real-life issues for the sake of feel-good entertainment.

Boulanger is completely captivating as the kind of kid Truffaut would have adored, but it's Sharif's show. Next to his portrayal of Yuri in "Dr. Zhivago", this may be role for which he'll be best remembered.

What will really shock Western viewers are the luxurious trappings of Handong's world: The tailored suits, Mercedes Benz and expensive Japanese sushi bars have little to do with age-old perceptions of the PRC.

Mortimer is riveting as the sympathetic but flawed Lizzie.

The film is a dispiriting experience.

The result is somewhat confounding, but utterly spellbinding.

Exquisitely crafted drama.

The film, like its subject, is a hoot, both shamelessly entertaining and bursting with personality.

The result is something truly special.

Coming at a time when the settlements on the Gaza Strip are being dismantled, Cedar's film offers a sly critique of their origins, and refreshingly different point of view.

The only criticism that can possibly be leveled at Black's film is its narrow focus, but it's not hard to extrapolate.

This grim black comedy from Belgium would be unbearable if it wasn't scripted with such wry humor.

Holding nothing back, Walters is, once again, remarkable.

Truly in a class by itself.

This is much more than a typically one-dimensional message-movie -- it's obviously the work of a master filmmaker .

As an explanation of where we are today, the entire film makes for crucial viewing.

The film is virtually wall-to-wall music with very little commentary -- it's obvious that, given the chance, these musicians would much rather play than talk.

The film is filled with humor, compassion and cajones, and never once glosses over the fact that these guys are prickly personalities who can sometimes act like jerks. There are also a few tears, but remarkably, not a single one is shed in pity.

A grim and deliciously twisted Gothic chiller from the dark side of sunny Down Under.

Solid and engrossing melodrama.

Refreshingly serious look at young women whose relative freedom doesn't mean they're particularly free.

Not much happens on the surface of Hou Hsiao Hsien's latest film...Nevertheless, it can break your heart.

Austrian auteur Barbara Albert uses complex mathematics, chaos theory and the music of Dutch pop sensation A-Ha to explore the connections that link a group of disparate characters.

The very definition of sentimental overload. It's also impossible to resist.

This warm, ultimately poignant film hoes its own row, and proves once again the diversity and vitality of contemporary Argentine film.

This hilariously low-key film is punctuated by inspired wish-fulfillment fantasy sequences filled with pro-Palestinian imagery that would be taboo in a western film.

There's enough information packed into Paul Devlin's documentary about the woes besieging the former Soviet republic of Georgia for two movies.

Using long takes, largely improvised dialogue and an increasingly out-of-joint time frame, Van Sant chronicles the final hours of fictional but Cobain-like rock star Blake.

Sectioned neatly into chapters with titles like "Mon petit frere" and "Ma mere," the film is perhaps a little too rigid, even by the conventions of road movies.

This strange and beautifully expressive film set in a remote Mexican canyon has nothing whatsoever to do with Japan, but its themes are as universal as they come.

The subject matter is certainly controversial -- it's not every day that we see a sympathetic portrayal of a pedophile -- but Cuesta avoids the taint of salaciousness, thanks in large part to a brilliant performance from Cox.

Even adventurous moviegoers who are familiar with Bruno Dumont's previous features...may be taken aback by the intensity of this shocker.

Masharawi's use of actual footage of clogged roadblocks and scary police actions bring a topical immediacy to his film, but it also asks an important question about the relevance of art during a time of crisis.

The film is filled with a languid air of decadence and decay, and a touching sympathy for people whose lives are crushed in the shadows of progress.

Peralta includes amazing archival footage to demonstrate just how far surfing in general permeated American popular culture, but also narrows his focus to follow the evolution of the surfboard itself.

The situation in these former republics may indeed be dire, but it's a breeding ground for exciting cinema.

Adapted from Kirsty Gunn's acclaimed novel, New Zealand director Christine Jeff's debut feature is a small masterpiece of atmosphere.

This smart spoof of film noir and filmmaking is very clever and riotously funny.

This excellent documentary from Iraqi writer-turned-filmmaker Sinan Antoon presents their hopes and fears directly from the Iraqis themselves.

With virtually no music and very little expository dialogue, this is one of the rare films with enough faith in moviegoers to let them figure things out for themselves.

You could hardly ask for more from a historical spectacle: Silly wigs, plunging décolletage, lavish banquets in ornate halls, a stirring score from Ennio Morricone and witty dialogue by Tom Stoppard.

Denis dispenses with most of Melville's hefty Christian symbolism in favor of the story's other great theme -- repressed homoerotic desire.

Excellent performances from Jacqueline Bisset and Martha Plimpton grace this deeply touching melodrama.

Mesmerizing.

A bold, vibrant piece of filmmaking.

Informative and richly illustrated documentary.

It's an excellent introduction to a man whose thoughts on war, peace and dissent have become increasingly influential in ever more confusing times.

Populated by a great ensemble cast and oozing a grubby sort of charm.

Old family secrets and fresh entanglements snake through the intricate plot like the tendrils of a particularly poisonous strain of ivy that flourishes only in the hot-house atmosphere of tiny towns, whatever the outside temperature.

Thick with sexual intrigue and characters who only reveal themselves over time, this subtle mystery unfolds like something a kinder Neil LaBute might have cooked up earlier in his career.

A frighteningly good horror movie with enough solid scares to freeze the blood of ardent fans and newcomers alike.

The sad fact is that this comprehensive and compassionate documentary about the hottest of the "hot-button" topics - gay marriage - probably won't change one's mind

However intriguing from a theoretical perspective, this gorgeously shot film is first and foremost and purely sensual experience. Filled with the sights and sounds of Rio of a bygone era, the whole thing virtually pulses with excitement.

French director Helene Angel's dark but deftly handled fable about familial violence has a terrifying, fairy-tale atmosphere that's in perfect keeping with its unique point of view.

It's a humbling way of life, and one that, as Varda discovers in this wonderful, 80-minute essay, has survived in surprising ways.

This is pulp with smarts and a social conscience.

An exciting dramatization of the strange events that marked the turning of the legal tide against Big Tobacco, and a particularly dark moment in the annals of CBS News.

Warm, funny and often brutally honest profile of an aging divorcee and her three very different daughters.

It's a great part for a great actor and Cheadle does a magnificent job turning this living legend back into flawed, flesh-and-blood reality.

The rogue feminism of "Thelma and Louise," mix in some of "Rock 'N' Roll High School" punk-rock energy.

A sprawling, semi-biographical account of two real-life filmmakers who both found work during darkest days the German occupation.

Shot on reverse film, poet-turned-director Lukas Moodyson's debut feature has a grainy, immediate feel that nicely enhances the story's emotional honesty.

Simply and eloquently articulates the tangled feelings of particular New Yorkers deeply touched by an unprecedented tragedy.

A hoot and a half.

The almost supernatural turn which Kim's lovely film takes during its final act, however, is totally unexpected, and just one reason why Kim ranks as one of the most justly celebrated talents in contemporary Korean cinema.

If a year in the life of a university department head doesn't sound like the stuff of a riveting documentary, please allow this stirring film by husband and wife filmmakers Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson to change your mind.

Greenebaum manages to portray old-age as a condition with its own peculiar beauty and considerable grace.

In the end it all comes down to Mitchell. She turns in a truly harrowing performance that will leave you shaking.

The excuse given here that Gerron couldn't resist one last opportunity to direct, even under the most grotesque circumstances, is really no excuse at all.

A rare, unexpected treat.

Bakan's arguments are buttressed by entertaining clips culled from commercials, industrial films and, appropriately, monster movies.

With his sure handling of this thriller's switchback plot and hairpin turns, Hideo Nakata confirms his mastery of genre material in the wake of his phenomenally successful "Ring."

The excellently translated subtitles retain the wit and flavor of the brisk, at times even hardboiled, dialogue.

A powerful anti-war film.

It does get K-Mart to pull handgun and assault ammunition from their shelves after two Columbine survivors show up at corporate headquarters with Moore's camera crew in tow and bullets bought for 13 cents apiece at a K-Mart store still embedded in their bodies.

While far from her best work, this accessible, emotionally involving domestic drama nevertheless serves as a welcome introduction.

It highlights a still shadowy moment in the creation of Pakistan that saw the abduction of nearly 100,000 Sikh and Muslim women in both India and Pakistan.

Funny without out ever making fun, Vardalos mixes elements of ethnic stand-up, Cinderella romance and Bridget Loves Bernie-style situation comedy, all grounded in something very real.

At heart an emotionally rich look at mothers and their daughters.

A moving look at the choices parents make on their children's behalf, and the reasons behind those choices.

Not to be missed.

A moody, beautifully acted character piece.

The terrific soundtrack, which includes the Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet" and New Order's most excellent "Temptation," is heavily weighted towards the '80s, which is exactly as it should be.

A well-crafted potboiler from start to finish.

At just under 80 minutes, Gluck's film would make a perfect double bill with "Trembling Before G-d," Sandi Simcha DuBowski's acclaimed documentary about gay Orthodox Jews who, like Gluck, have found themselves caught between their love for their religious heritage and all the secular possibilities they could no longer ignore.

History has since overtaken Ponfilly's film, which now more than ever seems like but one chapter in a much larger story -- the ongoing tragedy of Afghanistan -- and a tragic tribute to all that might have been.

The reality of the situation and the nightmarish consequences they suggest, however, are frighteningly real.

Features a first-rate voice cast and state-of-the-art animation that's nothing short of miraculous.

He's (Mann) a solid historian and this film is full of fascinating facts, but he's a cultural critic at heart, and a good one at that.

The strangest thing about writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson's unusual romantic comedy is how much of it is based on a true story.

Imagine "The Full Monty" without any of the feel-good uplift, and you'd be pretty close to capturing what this bitter -- and often bitterly funny -- film from Spain is all about.

Overall, the filmmakers are a little too reverent -- it would have been interesting to hear Derrida respond to criticism leveled against deconstruction as an academic methodology -- but then again, they're not entirely in control here.

But for all the divine touches, FH is no Jesus, or even his son: He's just another wide-eyed American Adam on the road again, a dazed and confused Huck Finn of the highways.

Flashing by like images in a flip book, these protean forms appear to dance a cosmic quadrille set to the music of the spheres.

With its artfully artless hand-held cinematography, haphazard focus, non-diegetic dialogue and what sounds like a largely improvised script, Thraves's film is all about style, but contains a surprising amount of substance.

It's filled with great footage of what must have been a wild time behind the Iron Curtain, and the music itself speaks volumes.

Israeli director Keren Yedaya's remarkable debut feature, which won the 2004 Cannes Film Festival Camera d'Or, is a powerful study of a teenager's willingness to do anything to save her mother, a Tel Aviv prostitute who may be well beyond salvation.

Alternately accessible and obscure, the film is almost too rich to digest at one sitting, but even if experiencing this remarkable films means latching onto just a few of its myriad ideas, it's still a richly rewarding encounter.

Filled with some of the most powerful poetry and shattering images ever to come out of warfare.

Evokes feelings of fascination and heartbreak, as well as a sense of disbelief.

Warm and frequently very funny, Argentine director Carlos Sorin's third feature weaves together three story lines into one road-tripping adventure that's a joy ride from beginning to end.

It's an ideal collaboration: A stylish director desperately seeking substance transforms the first, somewhat flat novel of a promising young writer into powerful and brutally honest film about a highly controversial subject.

Generations of healthy spirits were twisted and deformed by the good Sisters of Mercy, all in the name of salvation.

More reminiscent of Hitchcock's progeny than of the master's own films, Cedric Kahn's intelligently menacing thriller combines Brian DePalma's sexy style with the ice-cold cool tone of Claude Chabrol and the sense of mounting panic George Sluizer exploited in "The Vanishing."

Only the heavy stylization mitigates some highly artificial plot contrivances, and the final photo montage of America's poor, while no doubt exciting to Von Trier the provocateur, is maddeningly oblique.

(Valli) brings an ethnographer's eye for detail to a plot that amounts to little more than the good old generation gap.

Dabbed with sentimental touches, the film nevertheless avoids facile victim psychologizing and pulls no punches.

It's a fascinating film that manages to touch on subjects as diverse as mental illness and what's wrong with the record industry, set to brilliant music by the one of the best bands you've probably never heard.

Aside from a little eleventh-hour pseudo-mysticism about death and the weight of the soul, the story is really little more than a unusually gripping thriller.

Trapero again proves himself a master of mood, evoking the gritty, workaday world of contemporary Argentina that helped establish him as one of the most important young directors of the new Argentine cinema.

While probably not suitable for the wee ones, older kids and most adults will love this exciting and heartfelt adventure of one boy's survival during the darkest days of post-war Europe.

Staunton is phenomenal - she barely speaks throughout the entire last third of the film, but the power of her posture and distraught expressions are enough to break your heart.

Set in Paris in 1975, this sensitive, low-key film is another exquisitely crafted volume in French director Benoit Jacquot's collection of films about young Frenchwomen at pivotal points in their lives.

There are a few weak spots -- the ending could have used some fine tuning -- but otherwise its a solid sleeper: unassuming, unexpected and wholly entertaining.

It's a surprisingly uplifting experience, and in the end, unmistakably a Kiarostami film.

This seemingly placid community is slowly revealed to be tangle of interpersonal relationships defined by that essential rift that divides those who summer at the beach and those who remain behind at season's end.

The film unfolds like a thriller: The plot moves so inexorably toward its tragic conclusion you can almost hear the clock ticking.

Rarely has the argument against the death penalty been made so articulately, or so poignantly.

Even more astonishing that the superb acting is the simple fact that director Gianni Amelio has managed to craft a touching tale of a father reunited with his disabled son without the slightest whiff of sentimentality.

Each scene is beautifully written and exquisitely shot, and the sum total is an unusually perceptive picture of urban loneliness.

This excellent film, which is both uplifting and troubling, also makes crystal clear what Peter gradually gives up in order to fit in as best he can: His culture.

Narrated by Lily Tomlin and featuring a bevy of in-the-know interviews, this exceptionally entertaining documentary from filmmaker Craig Highberger shines the footlights on Jackie Curtis, an Andy Warhol superstar who transcended the Factory scene and proved to be rather exceptional himself.

Ferociously entertaining.

The film is not without its share of awkward moments, but as an insightful critique of "Girl Culture" and the mounting war over the hearts and minds of adolescent girls that's currently being waged in the media, it's mandatory viewing.

Occasionally melodramatic, it's also extremely effective.

Makes for a great story.

Anderson pulls it off, thanks in large part to his witty writing, punchy editing and a likable supporting cast.

It offers a rare opportunity to watch a world-class playwright bringing one of his own works to life; rarer still, Almereyda puts his notoriously reticent subjects so sufficiently at ease that they actually sit down and discuss their craft.

The film is as beautiful as it is unpredictable.

Oddly, once removed from the museum setting and strung together into an hourlong feature, it's Maddin's most cohesive narrative.

From its ominous opening to its spectacular climactic stunt, the hypnotic precursor to director Tom Tykwer's "Run Lola Run" is a quieter but creepier affair.

The cast is wonderful, the soundtrack features a well-chosen array of bouncy period pop tunes, and Graeme Wood's cinematography makes the most of the stately beauty of the dish itself.

Even if you're feeling a little numbed by the spate of films dealing with 9/11, make an exception for this important documentary.

This film exposes a more insidious kind of exploitation, one far more difficult to detect.

Ostensibly about artificial life forms, each of these four short, expertly crafted stories offers a poignant perspective on what it means to be human.

Where this still vital series was once about what sets us apart, it now seems to be turning towards the things that, in the end, render us all equal.

If watching devout churchgoers pray to Jesus before a static camera sounds like the dullest idea ever for a documentary, think again: This might be the most fun you've ever had in church.

It's a gripping, understated thriller with a solid emotional undercurrent that builds to an unexpectedly moving denouement.

A grim neo-noir thriller.

Forgoing any voice-over commentary, these now-familiar images regain their original power to shock with the sheer enormity of the event.

An illuminating depiction of Islamic women that is entirely at odds with what we are often lead to believe.

A touching coming-of-age story from Sweden, made interesting by the fact that the protagonist is a lonely, middle-aged farmer rather than an adolescent.

Haroun and cinematographer Abraham Haile Biru carefully frame their characters with a painterly elegance that is at times truly startling.

Fascinating documentary.

"Survivor" meets "Cinema Paradiso"in this wonderfully entertaining documentary about a film fanatic's quest to bring Hollywood movies to a remote South Sea island.

Too bad that Romanek feels compelled to tie it all up with a banal pop psych explanation that offers an all-too simplistic solution to an otherwise uncommonly complex thriller.

The filmmakers' attempts come to terms with a recent catastrophe of indeterminate meaning but global consequences are often fascinating.

Sensitive and expertly acted crowd-pleaser that isn't above a little broad comedy and a few unabashedly sentimental tears.

Warm and thoughtful tale.

Its brightly colored surfaces and chirpy, picaresque tone notwithstanding, filmmaker Ra'anan Alexandrowciz's first feature is a scathing condemnation of the rampant venality he perceives as having gripped his country.

Powerful, documentary-style drama draws on the real-life experiences of "at risk" teenage girls.

Looks very much like a documentary: It's grainy and raw, and Seidl's actors -- a mix of actors and non-professionals -- are often unglamorously posed under what appears to be natural light.

It's almost inconceivable how Glass could have gotten away with so much, but the movie makes a convincing case for how Glass used office politics, the good faith of his editors and his own personal charisma to get away with the worst offenses a journalist could commit.

The film is beautifully told and superbly acted. More importantly, Paul Laverty's screenplay goes along way toward showing how the traditionalism that can turn a community inward on itself is often a response to racism, and in that sense the film's timing couldn't have been any better.

It's a fascinating story teeming with pride, arrogance, greed and overweening hubris, and Gibney attempts to give it all an added dimension by finding the archetypes of Greek tragedy among the sleazy deals and Ponzi-scheme financing.

Beautifully filmed, but extremely painful examination of the African slave trade takes a difficult position: Rather than focusing on the white European superstructure, Ivory Coast director Roger Gnoan M'bala focuses on African complicity in the capture and selling of African people.

Powerfully acted, intensely carnal drama.

When she's not babbling about the weird symbological system that rules her personal cosmos Imelda is an entertaining storyteller, vividly describing a life that became a national embarrassment and a camp legend.

An intelligent and very funny satire about the bloody game of American politics.

Fessenden uses an unsettling mix of montage, time-lapse photography and animation to create an atmosphere of great, unknowable menace that closely approximates the haunted spirit of Algeron Blackwood's unforgettable tale "The Wendigo." These hills are indeed alive.

As a visual counterpart to some of the most sublime verse ever written, it's often thrilling.

Anyone lucky enough to have lived within broadcast range of Rodney Bingenheimer's radio show on L.A.'s KROQ during the late '70s had a privileged upbringing, whether or not they realized it at the time.

Marker revisited (the film) in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union: He trimmed an hour and added a remarkably prescient coda: "Terrorism has replaced Communism as the ultimate evil."

Thoughtful look at the itinerant street musicians of Paris.

Bertuccelli's heartfelt film affords a unique peek into the hearts and minds of a generation who, after having been awakened from the lie they'd been living all their lives, must now face the aftermath of an entire nation's failure.

Though it clearly explicates the problem, the film is by no means a straightforward documentary.

A moody, subtle drama that has more in common with the tragedy of "Endless Love" than "Where The Boys Are."

Under the candy coating and girl group soundtrack, the film acknowledges some hard truths about women and education that haven't changed much since the '60s. But it never loses sight of having a good time, and the girls are great.

Powerful and startlingly unsentimental.

Like so many true stories, Comes' lacks the clarity and comforting resolution of fiction

A fascinating fictional documentary.

We only experience the horror of the genocide through several layers of artifice -- first Saroyan's, then Egoyan's own -- a sad acknowledgement that with each story told, we're drawn that much further from the truth.

"We're not that different, but we're different from what you think we are," says 16-year-old Ebony, and no playwright could have said it better.

Swank's nuanced performance is remarkable and it's a powerful film.

Edward Klosinski's staid cinematography lends the film a feeling of late summer languor, a deceptive calm before a terrible storm. The spare, evocative piano soundtrack is by John Cale.

A truly trangressive film as unsettling as it is psychologically acute.

Think of it as a dark, suspenseful scenario penned by Joseph Conrad and designed by Toulouse-Lautrec and Auguste Renoir, and jump right in.

Makhmalbaf shot this film under extremely difficult circumstances, and it sometimes shows; but it's still an important achievement.

A sweet and surprisingly unconventional look at the changing definition of family in contemporary Japan.

The tragedy of modern Tibet haunts this otherwise lighthearted tale of life inside a Buddhist monastery-in-exile.

Everything about Takashi Miike's brilliant and blood-soaked crime thriller comes as a shock.

Christopher Browne's fun, surprisingly exciting film probably won't convert anyone convinced that bowling is something you do while downing fish sticks and beer. But it may teach them a newfound respect for the sport's champions.

A beautiful, slow-motion melodrama.

In a rare and inspiring example of the way art can both reflect and alleviate human suffering, photojournalist Zana Briski's wrenching documentary traces her valiant use of photography to help children trapped in one of the most wretched places on earth.

The subject may be familiar to those who happened to catch the 1998 documentary "Port of Last Resort," but this remarkable true story certainly bears repeating.

The surprisingly tragic climax may make it rough going for kids too young to grasp the film's comforting message.

Wahlberg, whose Bobby is the kind of guy who enters a room gun first, swinging a can of a gasoline, is the glue that holds everything together; he's perfectly cast and has never given a more persuasive performance.

Im distinguishes what might have otherwise been a standard Hollywood biopic through his use of exquisitely composed shots that could have been imagined by Jang himself.

It's Norton who makes the film such an enlightening experience, and he's mesmerizing.

Not just an engaging melodrama that explores the class conflict and sexual mores of feudal Japan, but a work of extraordinary beauty; you could literally hang any random frame on the wall and call it art. No doubt the master would have been pleased.

Perry's careful juxtaposition of images showing the town's sad present with footage of what it's long ceased to be is positively haunting.

Short on action but heavy on ambiance, and the cumulative effect packs a whopper if you're willing to stop and think about it. Penn, never one to opt for action over thought, clearly expects that his audience will.

Warm and utterly beguiling fable.

The film is a trifle long too long for its rather slim mystery, but in face of so much beauty and invention that's a small quibble.

Hoch's very funny satire on racial stereotyping cuts both ways.

If the sign of good documentary is its ability to enthrall you regardless of your prior interest in the subject, then Stacy Peralta's hugely entertaining film earns high marks.

This ultra-stylish film is far more interested in exploring its own central image -- the camera -- than the forensic minutia of the mystery.

Exceptionally satisfying and enormously entertaining.

Irwin's film comes as a bracing reminder of what punk was once all about, and will hopefully serve as an inspiration for better bands to come.

A gentle, offbeat drama that hails the arrival of a new talent in writer-director Eric Mendelsohn, and bids a poignant farewell to a uniquely gifted actress, the late Madeline Kahn.

In an outstanding ensemble, Spall is particularly good.

A psychologically acute profile of one teenaged girl obsessed with leading what she thinks of as normal life.

That this handsome, three-hour extravaganza coheres at all is a small miracle; that it actually leaves you wanting more is a major one.

Fans of the genre are in for a wickedly entertaining treat.

"There is no antidote for the human bomb," one Sri Lankan official flatly states, but Ziv's film offers a number of important insights into a phenomenon that's only gaining momentum.

Dong shows how intolerance has the power to deform families, then tear them apart. At 75 minutes, the film is too short; each story deserves a full hour of its own.

The film draws careful parallels between orthodoxies and in his own quiet way, Masud, a devout Muslim, level his critique at repressive political regimes and religious doctrines, and those who dangerously confuse one with the other.

Longley has constructed a remarkably coherent, horrifically vivid snapshot of those turbulent days.

This winning comedy joyfully embraces every possible permutation of love; cupid, it turns out, is indeed blind, and doesn't care much about gender either.