Leslie Camhi

Marvelously grizzled and tender, Josef Bierbichler's Brecht wheezes and grumbles through it all.

A bit naive and formless.

The real star of this film is the crowded, neon-lit byways of the city itself.

Manchevski has a rare visual intelligence, whether filming the face of a dying woman or Times Square's reflection in a windshield. But in reaching for a cubist style of storytelling, he sacrifices character and motivation.

The film's pathos lies not with people who have justice on their side, but with those who don't know where they belong.

"No poetry after Auschwitz," Theodor Adorno proclaimed. One sometimes wishes he'd added, "And no big-name cinema either."

This extraordinary story still sparks controversy in France, but in Berri's hands, it never comes alive...a shadow play of historical icons, rather than a portrait of people in love.

The writerly restraint that confines them to the airport is admirable, though the fairy-tale ending in Acapulco seems like a throwaway.

Krabbé alternates exaggeration with sentiment, but the main characters are relatively complex, and its surprise ending is genuinely affecting.

It does best when it leaves behind hothouse literary discussions and closes in on these two legendary behemoths, battling for sexual supremacy.

Beyond its rare visions of remote vistas, Camel's great charm lies in its seeming simplicity. The camera records the events of the day -- from a little girl's tears to an afternoon sandstorm -- with a childlike clarity and curiosity.

Handsomely shot, German filmmaker Sandra Nettelbeck's third feature suffers from a certain romantic predictability.

It's a giddy farce worthy of Lucy and Ethel, and Peploe plays up the buffoonery.

Pitch-perfect performances and a light-handed but razor-sharp script keep this satire brisk and biting.

The subjects can be amusing, chilling, or tragic -- but in the end, they offer few surprises.

Montias's script lacks surprises -- Still, the minor figures surrounding him (Bobby) -- from teenage Puerto Rican beauties to a mobster's middle-aged groupie -- form a gritty urban mosaic, and Bobby's wanton energy is utterly convincing.

Serry perfectly captures the peculiar climate, creating uncanny echoes with today's situation. Persian stars Shaun Toub and Shohreh Aghdashloo are extremely convincing as Maryam's parents.

Child abuse, domestic violence, and the struggles of single mothers deserve better treatment than this.

A remarkably vivid portrait of a teeming third-world metropolis

The problems come in the shadow world, where everything's a jumble, where Dark's compositional strategy ("all clues and no solutions") eventually becomes wearing, and Gordon's direction can't hold it all together.

Even Mastroianni cannot hold our attention for over three hours.

How did this rude monk, prey to depression and satanic hallucinations, change the course of history? Luther offers scant illumination, for the big brown eyes that served Joseph Fiennes so well in "Elizabeth" are little help with the spirit of Reformation.

Slesin's film is a profound meditation on the resilience of children -- their ability to take sustenance from whatever love is available -- and on the persistent presence of the child hidden within each grown-up.

This delightfully sensual documentary gets inside the artist's creative process while also treating viewers to glorious music by the likes of Wagner and Satie.

Most of the redemptive notes ring false, as does the mythical Manhattan, where the snow is just too clean and everybody lives around the corner.

A darkly comic tale of characters riven by divided loyalties and neurotic inhibitions.

It manages to be both ponderous and silly.

Chilling and thoroughly engrossing documentary.