Marta Barber

Takes one side, but it tries to offer hope that change can happen.

What strikes you the most about this well put-together film is how little you're drawn to either character or really understand where either is coming from.

An engaging and powerful portrayal of puberty gone awry.

Admirers of the author will find in Edmond all the elements that turned Mamet into a favorite.

Far removed from being a Hollywood production. There are no big-name actors and no fancy camera work. But that's what makes it interesting.

A warm, funny, engaging film by Patricia Cardoso that realistically portrays the struggles of many first-generation American women.

Under the Sun doesn't intend to be dramatic, much less melodramatic. This beautiful film just wants to capture life's simplicity.

Offers a rose-colored picture of life, but one that Campanella makes ring true.

The Iceberg is a riot, a quintessential French comedy with an improbable plot and an unbelievable cast of characters.

In Spanish, the title of the film, El abrazo partido, translates into ''a broken embrace,'' a more fitting description of Ariel's feelings for his father.

Dark Blue World's warm story and beautiful photography almost hits the mark, and it has a great ending.

The film never lacks dignity. Fateless doesn't look at life at the camp like Roberto Benigni did in "Life is Beautiful."

You may be drawn to Intimacy's graphic scenes, but you'll emerge convinced there's more to life -- and the film -- than sex.

Watching a film about an opera can never be as moving as watching the real thing in a great opera house. Musical purists may object to certain details, and film buffs may find the concept unappealing. Yet, for this film and opera lover, Jacquot's Tosca is a treat.

The film is art in all its visual splendor, and no matter how confusing the historic story line may be to Westerners -- and it is -- the images on screen more than compensate for the faults.

Some scenes drag, but Seagull's Laughter is still delightful.

The Lady and the Duke is not about the revolution. It's an intimate story of a woman's perspective during a dramatic event in world history.

Simple and austere, The Cuckoo also draws from the mysticism of tales of gnomes and other creatures who inhabit remote Nordic lands. It is that blend of reality with allegory that delivers the film's beauty and charm.

This is courtroom drama at is best, especially when you listen to the sublime soundtrack.

Despite its stylistic flaws, the acting and the magic of the story make Maelstrom a different kind of film.

A mesmerizing documentary about the rise and fall of a drug lord, perhaps the biggest there ever was.

For all its tumult, The Clay Bird mostly concentrates on its likable characters, all acted with the kind of understatement that makes a good film better.

In between all the emotional seesawing, it's hard to figure the depth of these two literary figures, and even the times in which they lived. But they fascinate in their recklessness.

An engrossing psychological thriller.

The Bank, despite its faulty finale, is a fun and thrilling ride.

Who would have thought a German comedy could be light, charming and devoid of intellectual snobbery?

There's something to be said about an old story given a new ending -- and making it work.

Going Shopping can make a wonderful outing for girlfriends. It's fun.