Sam Weisberg

Wang favors static, wide, one-take shots, to underscore the relentlessness of his characters’ suffering. But — like Jost — he also has a knack for primitive in-camera effects. The final shot is a triumph of both economy and feeling.

The cast is intoxicating.

As demonstrated by this exquisite documentary, the preparation of Japan’s national dish is an arduous affair, with the most celebrated chefs — variously referred to here as “ramen gods” and “ramen demons” — toiling fanatically to retain the color, richness, and viscosity of their dishes.

Above all else, November, shot in gorgeous black-and-white by Mart Taniel, is a smorgasbord of deliciously grotesque imagery.

Most hilarious is the revelation that the first director assigned to the film Lumet eventually made, the manic John G. Avildsen, wanted the eccentric, bearded hipster ex-cop to play himself. On the basis of this exceptional portrait, he very well could have.

Whenever Plummer is onscreen, The Exception is scintillating entertainment. Unfortunately, it gets bogged down.

While the film, to its credit, doesn't become a trite morality play, the ending is thin and contrived nonetheless.

Whether the real-life Martinez is this hotheaded and quick-tempered is left a mystery, but it matters not a whit, because even five minutes in the company of this Martinez is excruciating.

Nakom is sometimes slow-moving and occasionally succumbs to heavy-handed symbolism, contrasting images.... But the movie is commendable for centering on an atypical hero.

The film is not without its trenchant moments, most rooted not in peace but in science.

This gripping movie is essential viewing for any Irish history buffs who found In the Name of the Father a tad corny.

It's workmanlike and impassioned, but ultimately preaching to the choir.

All the ingredients for a gritty — if familiar — coming-of-age story are here. But London Town, though spirited, is consistently tension-free.

This is a maudlin, manipulative film, and while it's never aggressively annoying, that's only because it severely lacks energy. It registers like a pesky little sister who's doped out on Vicodin.

There have been upbeat coming-out films (But I'm a Cheerleader) and tragic, infuriating ones (Boys Don't Cry, Brokeback Mountain). Andrew Ahn's Spa Night is executed on a significantly smaller scale, a deliberately anticlimactic one, which makes it all the more doleful.

Andersen's restless yet scholarly methods are contagious: He makes you want to become more well-rounded.

Sex and Broadcasting is at once heartfelt, gritty, and informative, and you don’t really want it to end.

This anti-war movie is more passionate about CB radio communication than the horrors of bloodshed.

There are two rules that no version of Point Break should disobey: Don't skimp on surfing and never be boring. That’s two unpardonable strikes against new helmsman Ericson Core, who also photographed this stiff, humorless, tension-free remake in drab 3D.

Heartrending throughout, Iraqi Odyssey is everything you want in a documentary — informative, involving, and eager to decipher complex, often paradoxical historical conundrums. Everything, that is, except visually interesting.

[A] vivid and enlightening documentary.

Bialis's growing immersion in the town is poignant, even admirable.

If Gabriel Clarke and John McKenna's exhilarating documentary, Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans, were merely a testament to McQueen's stubbornness and irascibility, it would still be a damned entertaining portrait.

While Spender spends enough time with both new and retired jockey legends to collect a gold mine of macho, bullheaded rapport, you wish she delved deeper into the more sinister, behind-the-scenes wheelings and dealings.

Rose is a pleasant affair, but you might want to know far more about Blank and far less about, say, pot-au-feu.

Shrewder documentarians than directors Brent Hodge and Derik Murray would have balanced out the sentiment with grit. The movie is saccharine.

This is essential viewing for those who prefer their documentaries nearly 100 percent tension-free.

Terrific documentaries are a dime a dozen; ones this multifaceted are to be cherished.