V.A. Musetto

You have to wonder just how true to life the melodramatic depiction of these events is, especially since the film was made in partnership with TV's "Masterpiece Theater."

Working from a well-thought-out script co-written by director Stéphane Brizé, the two stars deliver impressive, understated performances.

Fails to elicit any substantive information from his (Tommy Davis) subjects. And he fails to put their plight into perspective.

Kev Robertson's gritty camerawork and a musical soundtrack mixing hip-hop, punk and electronica add to the ambience of this impressive shoestring-budget indie.

Nobody familiar with To will be surprised by the way he presents stylish violence in innovative and humorous ways.

A scrumptious war movie.

Can be taken as a parable about cinema art vs. commerce. If that's too much to think about, just enjoy the off-beat humor.

Loud, crass and full of slapstick humor that the Three Stooges would be ashamed of. And it is almost completely lacking in charm and nuance.

Silly and pointless film.

The gritty photography is a perfect match for the film's harsh realities, the script is taut (not a word or motion is wasted) and the acting is raw and realistic.

Never becomes maudlin. Rather, it retains an upbeat air of hope, and even humor, as two brave men battle fate.

Proves, if anything, that sappy feel-good movies aren't restricted to Hollywood.

Allah made me funny - not.

The film falters only when it eavesdrops briefly on a passionate public discussion of rent control and gentrification. The moment is out of keeping with the carefree nature of the rest of the movie.

Pleasant but lifeless love story.

The plot of the gorgeous Mexican film Alamar -- a father-son vacation -- isn't what Hollywood calls "high concept." But thanks to director-cinematographer-editor Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio, the film might be called "high enjoyment."

There's nary a dull moment in the semi-autobiographical Secuestro Express (secuestro means kidnap), as Jakubowicz pleases the eyes with closeups, sped-up scenes, hand-held camerawork and other stylized tricks.

A toe-tapping, booty- shaking look at Cubans' love of music that gets bogged down in political thoughts that go unexplored.

The coincidences might be too much for some, but viewers who can get past them will be treated to a suspenseful, well-acted, crisply photographed character study.

It's depressing as hell. While most of the seven say they want to beat the habit and become productive citizens, only one, Ron, follows through successfully.

Judging by this passionate film, the medical community -- has no clue about what causes this awful malady and, worse, doesn't seem to care.

The story won't win any prizes for coherence, but that doesn't much matter. As in most Hong Kong thrillers, it's the visuals - love those boldly choreographed shootouts! -- and moments of absurdity that count.

As a one-time suburbanite now living happily in Manhattan, I can attest that Radiant City tells it like it is. The film ends with a surprise that you won't see coming and I won't spoil.

Only the French could or would make a movie like this. You'll enjoy it if you turn off your brain and concentrate on the eye candy.

The Grudge offers a bit more exposition than did "Ju-On," but the plot is still wispy.

The fine supporting cast includes Steve Buscemi, as a cynical American doctor who at first doesn't get along with Rabe; and Anne Consigny, as the French head of a local school for Chinese girls.

It's full of Plympton's trademark twisted humor, with lots of sex thrown in.

Bluebeard revisits themes often found in Breillat's films -- sibling rivalry, pedophilia, gender conflict -- but it remains fresh and new.

The film tastefully handles the sensitive subject, but it lacks the bite that a Michael Moore would have provided.

A well-researched picture of how racism led to nine men being falsely accused and wrongly convicted. One only wishes that the filmmakers had more than 84 minutes in which to tell the story.

Burning Annie has funny moments, but it suffers from an overflow of characters.

The story is told in fractured time. This might not be a problem if his visuals were more fear-inducing.

Okuda's debut behind the camera, Shoujyo, is a dirty old man's delight: schoolgirls galore in short skirts or, in Yoko's case, nothing at all. That may be enough for some viewers, but not for those who insist on a story that gives substance to its characters.

A disturbing and daring thriller with an exceptional performance by 13-year-old Laurien Van den Broeck.

The result is mystifying - intentionally so - and frustrating. But it's worth a look.

Sylvarnes, who scripted, directed, edited and photographed this amazing first feature, makes spectacular use of digital video.

Promoted as "the year's scariest movie," it's anything but.

A thinking man's buddy movie.

From the rapid-fire, purposely unreadable opening credits to the final baby POV shot of a birth, this is a dazzling and brutal exercise in cinematic envelope-pushing.

Gogol Bordello plays a mix of punk rock and Gypsy music that recalls the work of the Serbian No Smoking Band. Onstage, Gogol Bordello puts on a visually outrageous show that one member describes as "kick-ass."

Sexist, racist humor abounds, with Jews and gays especially taking a beating. I don't always object to non-PC humor -- but I like it to be funny, and here it isn't.

It's not always clear exactly what's happening in this dark tale, full of barking dogs and slabs of meat. But you won't be able to take your eyes from the screen; nor will you quickly forget this fiercely original eye-popper.

The cinematography and sets look great, but the script is a bummer. It's overlong, overwrought and overblown.

Low-budget triumph.

The only thing missing is the mud that the big boys love to sling. But the Stuyvesant candidates are kids - give them a few years.

To its credit, this remarkable film does not contrive a happy ending. Under the circumstances, even a mildly hopeful one seems like a triumph of the highest order.

The story is nothing if not uplifting, but it unfolds in a conventional, uninspired documentary style better suited to the small screen, where it soon will reside. Wait.

Kim's wittiest effort to date, with a wordless performance by Jae Hee that recalls Keaton and Chaplin.

Schwartz throws in so many characters and implausible subplots - none worth mentioning - that Perception sinks under its own weight.

Time to Leave just might be Ozon's best work yet. He tackles a sensitive, off-putting subject with a dignity that will put viewers at ease. Poupaud connects as the dying man and Moreau is - Moreau, a French national treasure.

The low-low budget ($50,000) coming-of-age drama, shot on high-def video, is nothing if not daring and innovative.

A sappy look at the title character, a 12-year-old boy who's a math and music prodigy.

Let the French stick to love stories and leave stupid comedies to Tinseltown.

Days of Being Wild is less accomplished than later Wong efforts like Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love, but it's smart filmmaking nevertheless. [19 Nov 2004, p.46]

You need a scorecard to keep track of who's bedding whom in Happily Ever After, a tres French take on sex and love, in that order.

That is not an original idea, for sure. But the ensemble cast -- especially Tatou as a 24-year-old store clerk named Irene -- is personable and the Parisian ambiance is catching.

Low-key yet has a lot to say about class struggle.

Thoughtful and entertaining documentary.

A meditation on literature, love and remembrance that is able to find humor and hope in the dark days of the Cultural Revolution.

If the sight of naked, sweaty French hunks gets you going, well, then, Three Dancing Slaves is a must-see.

Hermila Guedes is hot as the damsel in distress. She carries the movie on her slender shoulders, providing erotic charm and believable acting.

Pedro Castaneda, a nonprofessional appearing in his first film, and Veronica Loren tug at your heartstrings with their portrayals of the lead characters.

A pleasing alternative to the season's Oscar-baiting movies.

The presentation is conventional, but the subject matter isn't. Besides, when was the last time you saw anything resembling good news coming out of the Middle East?

A grabber from start to finish that should win new fans for cult-favorite To.

It's full of passionate performances (except for the wooden Li), sizzling swordplay, bold and dazzling hues, and breathtaking landscapes.

From the Hitchcockian opening credits to the final frame, Almodovar has Hitch on his mind.

By the time the closing credits roll, you'll be ready to run out and hug a tree.

Plot and dialogue take a back seat to a series of inventive sight gags that unspool with effortless charm. An ensemble cast of talented amateurs is in top form.

White-haired Ronnie Gilbert of the Weavers -- the group was blacklisted during the McCarthy years -- is in especially fine voice.

Corddry leads a game cast, but the film is rough around the edges...It would play better as a TV sketch.

If you have an appetite for audacious, one-of-a-kind filmmaking, this one's for you. Just don't say you weren't warned.

A well-written and -acted drama that's also unrelentingly grim.

Makhmalbaf finds room for moments of humor and humanity.

Utter junk.

The narrative is fractured, David Lynch-style. Everything eventually makes sense -- sort of.

There are family photos, interviews with colleagues, newsreels of early shows, a chat with his mother and vintage interviews with an unbelievably young and sexy YSL.

Jokes about flatulence, human excrement and the size of someone's manhood also come into play, but they never cheapen this lush and enjoyable film.

There is, of course, a maximum of blood and gore. Sometimes the director's ideas work; often they don't.

Isn't very good. Not only has Ritter made his documentary a one-sided one, but he commits the journalistic sin of using himself as the film's main talking head. In other words, he's interviewing himself.

Gripping and even-handed film.

Isn't always easy to watch, but Bojanov's film is so compelling you just can't turn away.

Combines a wise script with funky performances, especially by Aselton, who could give Jennifer Aniston a run for her money.

A welcome change from horror movies like "Hostel' and "Saw" and their mind-numbing gore and violence.

Has relevance in the world as we now know it.

What Kamikaze Girls doesn't have is a plot. As nice as the film looks, it soon grows tiresome -- though I could listen to the Johann Strauss II soundtrack forever.

Mandoki never passes up a chance to increase the schmaltz level, but that doesn't lessen the impact of this harrowing account of a hellish childhood.

A lightweight French comedy worth watching only for Cecile de France. The gamine actress - decked out in short reddish hair, black tights and a thigh-high mini - is charming as Jessica.

Whaley gives an earnest performance, especially when he's articulating his frustrations during his monologues. But it's all relentlessly glum. The film, like Jimmy's routines, could use a few good laughs.

The comedy is without distinction and the conclusion is melodramatic. I must note that ads for the film are misleading because they give no hint of the dark side of The Bubble.

The story is contrived. Would you believe a high-rise window-washer just happening to be cleaning the window of the room where, at that very moment, his wife is being raped by her boss? Didn't think so.

Cool graphics and music, combined with jittery camera work, keep the film's energy level high. Who knew Scrabble could be so exciting?

The Italian film industry must be in sad shape when its latest import to the US is a tired bit of trash from 1997, To Die for Tano.

Pietro Sibille is exceptional as Santiago, and the rest of the cast turn in dynamic performances.

Sickeningly violent and inane movie.

Even parents might find themselves having fun.

Breathtakingly filmed (lots of slow-motion) by Wang Yu, but then it would be difficult to go wrong when your star is one of the world's most beautiful women.

Overflows with psychological intrigue, something often missing from such offerings.

The labor of love of South African brothers Craig and Damon Foster, who directed and photographed this intriguing documentary.

Most troubling is just how easy it is to sell nuclear secrets with the help of large corporations and the acquiescence of governments.

As nutty as you'd expect when two of our most eccentric auteurs join forces.

Huppert is wonderful, as usual, and she's to be congratulated for taking this daring role. But, alas, even she can't save Ma Mere.

Call this a profile in courage.

A movie so bad it's not even worth watching on DVD.

Going Under is the feature directorial debut of 65-year-old Eric Werthman, who has been a practicing psychotherapist for a quarter of a century. If you're not already seeing a shrink, Mr. Werthman, may we suggest that you start immediately.

There's not enough here to justify the almost two hours.

Anybody involved in the underground scene might get a kick out of Maestro -- but others will likely be bored stiff.

Your baby is near death. Instead of dropping everything to save his life, you make sure the video camera keeps rolling.

The director has listed Jean-Luc Godard as an influence, which explains the movie's French New Wave exuberance.

The three women deliver solid performances, but the film is diluted by the use of flashbacks superimposed over present-time scenes. The result is visual chaos.

Touches on issues raised in "Bad Education," but without Pedro Almodovar's flamboyant elegance.

Weisberg is nonjudgmental, allowing his subjects to deliver the message that, for far too many people, the American dream is more of a nightmare.

The sensitive subject matter is handled discreetly by writer-director Chin-yen Yee, who never lets the story sink into exploitation or finger-pointing.

The plot has all the ingredients of a soap opera, but Bani-Etemad, who has been making movies since the '80s, is able to make it much more.

With Treeless Mountain, Kim establishes herself as a first-class filmmaker.

Stick around till the end. You don't want to miss an unexpected cameo from a filmmaker I won't name. Hint: He's short, likes younger women and isn't Woody Allen.

A fantastical genre-buster.

Albert elicits good performances from her cast, but she fails to give viewers reason to care about their characters.

A South Korean romantic comedy by Hong Sang-soo, who has been likened in style to France's venerable Eric Rohmer.

There isn't a dud in the 10 shorts, although some are more dud-ish than others.

Fails to grab the imagination as it unfolds in familiar TV-movie fashion.

It would be easy to dismiss House of the Sleeping Beauties as a lewd male fantasy, but that would be ignoring the German film's deeper purpose as - in the words of the director, Vadim Glowna - a meditation on "transition, remembrance, mourning, guilt, loneliness, sex and death, eroticism and dying."

Reaches its climax on the main bathing day, with a throng of naked holy men leading the charge into the Ganges. You would be forgiven for thinking you're watching a hot July day at Coney Island.

The result puts a human face on Derrida, and makes one of the great minds of our times interesting and accessible to people who normally couldn't care less.

A youthful, and often funny, piece of filmmaking. You might never expect that its director is 73 years old.

Fails to show indignation that rich white guys are trying to get even richer at the expense of a naive black kid from the ghetto.

One of the most beautiful per formances I've seen this year is given by Blanca Engstrom in the Swedish coming-of-age charmer The Girl.

Doesn't always make sense, and you cannot always tell what is real and what is imaginary, but viewers will be having too much zonked-out fun to care.

Slovenian-born writer-teacher Slavoj Zizek, narrator of the movie "A Pervert's Guide to the Cinema," provides the most entertainment.

Musician Bones is believable as the luckless tourist in lime-green shades, and the musical soundtrack, including songs by Bones, is infectious.

Yu presents a compelling, somewhat disturbing portrait of the artist, who in 2000 was the subject of a major exhibit that toured the world.

It features Sean Penn in a mesmerizing portrayal of the would-be hijacker.

Porumboiu, who also produced and wrote, elicits remarkably deadpan performances from Teo Corban (as the show's host), Ion Sapdaru (the professor) and - especially - Mircea Andreescu, as the old man. Even the subtitles cracked me up.

Director Mikael Hafstrom - the gentleman responsible for last year's Jennifer Aniston bomb "Derailed" - keeps us guessing as he confidently builds suspense.

Why has She chosen to end her young life with a senseless act of mass murder? We never find out - which is a good thing. Too much information would only get in the way and lessen this compelling film's evocation of dread.

Intelligent and tasteful, even while being sexually frank.

According to rumors swirling on the Internet, an English-language remake is already in the works, possibly directed by David Cronenberg.

One of the oddest movies I've seen in a while - and that's a good thing.

The acting and story are solid, but the real star of Tulpan is the gorgeous, never-ending landscape -- flat and arid, and home to camels, goats and lambs, and hearty people who live in tentlike yurts.

The movie could have used more of the band's music and less talk.

Well-intended and often poignant film that, unfortunately, too often bogs down in too much talk by its participants.

Nicely acted and stylishly photographed.

The meditative Swedish movie The Anchorage takes minimalism to the maximum.

This is powerful filmmaking for discerning viewers.

The title is to be taken figuratively, not literally -- is a top-notch study of family angst.

Mainstream moviegoers will be put off by the subtitles, and art-house fans will be insulted by the story's shallowness.

As is his custom, Reygadas uses a mostly nonprofessional cast; and, as expected, he draws remarkably realistic performances.

Meet Peter Berlin - the man whose eccentric life style has earned him the title the Garbo of gay porn.

When it comes to magnetism, the Rolling Stones have nothing on Amma, the Indian mahatma ("spiritual guide") chronicled in Jan Kounen's handsomely photographed but one-sided documentary.

Katie Aselton has achieved the seemingly impossible. She's turned a movie about sex into a boring, talky snooze.

Garcon Stupide features the best gay seduction scene ever filmed on a Ferris wheel. Unfortunately, you have to sit through the entire movie to get to it. Whether you want to will depend on your interest in explicit gay sex.

An impressive screen debut.

It's a long way from the carefree days of "Breathless" and "Band of Outsiders," but then the world has changed since Godard made those movies 40 years ago.

It's a story that says a lot about the stupidity of war.

The cast is amazing -- two of the lead actresses are first-timers.

You don't have to have ever seen any of their movies to enjoy It Came From Kuchar, directed by one of George's former students, Jennifer M. Kroot. But you'll probably want to catch up with their work afterward.

Hats off to Elisabeth Marton, who has taken a bunch of dry facts and fashioned them into the gorgeous My Name Was Sabina Spielrein.

A cheesy and unpleasant splatterfest.

Harper and the film's director, Jeremy Kagan, try valiantly, but they are unable to bring Meir to life or hold viewers' attentions.

So powerful is Stranded that when the lucky few finally make their way back to civilization, you feel as thrilled as if they were your own loved ones.

It also gives another black eye to Iranian fundamentalists. It is most unfortunate, then, that the film isn't better.

The sweet script, crisp direction and a delightful performance by Leila Hatami, as the sad-eyed wife, should put Deserted Station on your must-see list.

Features abundant sex and nudity, yet it manages to tell its story (based on a real character) with great sensitivity.

I've seen Demonlover twice and still find the plot a challenge. I'd try again if I thought it would help.

The opening and closing scenes are scary and should please fans of the genre, especially at Halloween time.

The script doesn't offer anything especially new, but Burman infuses the film with innovative lensing and capable acting.

Like mother, like daughter best sums up Or (My Treasure), a raw drama.

Introduces a new Ferrara -- sophisticated and restrained. It's a look that becomes him.

Eventually turns somber, with stark depiction of mass graves and suffering refugees. The final scene will break your heart.

Denis -- who has called the film a tribute to the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu -- keeps dialogue to a minimum as she delicately examines how immigration is changing the face of France.

Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne gives a smoldering performance as Jeanne.

The film takes awhile to get going -- the depiction of homophobic 1950s suburbia has a familiar feel. The movie hits its stride only when eyewitnesses to the events at the Stonewall tell their stories.

Although envisioned before the world economy went to hell, Tokyo Sonata is relevant to the mess we're in now.

Has no profound statements to make, but it does provide warm and fuzzy comfort.

It's nice to see a love story that deals with mature people. We're not likely to get anything like it from Hollywood. So enjoy When the Sea Rises while you can.

Hard-hitting and biting.

The well-acted, pleasantly lensed drama doesn't recall Hollywood's generic approach to fragile couples, and that's just fine with me.

The people who are inflicting this movie on us intend it as some sort of inspirational epic. But the only thing it will motivate viewers to do is get out of the theater.

It is a boring parade of talking heads and technical gibberish that will do little to advance the Linux cause. Try again, guys.

Despite strong performances by Gerard Jugnot as the crime-busting prosecutor and Veronica D'Agostino as the adult Rita, The Sicilian Girl never lives up to its potential.

Boring.

Veteran French star Michel Piccoli is superb as an aging actor named Gilbert Valence.

We keep waiting for one of those outlandish musical treats to bring some life to the clichéd script. Kunder throws in a few breaks, but they're tepid and brief.

Abduction uses interviews, vintage photos and re-creations to tell the sad story of love and hope in riveting, suspenseful style. So powerful is this film, it brought tears to my eyes.

The film is worth watching if only for Kim, who before this had never seen a movie, let alone acted in one.

The story lacks focus. The senses blur as wives and ex-wives come and go, and Harry regularly falls off the wagon, only to reform the next day.

Would that all death be so peaceful.

The highly stylized, often outrageously funny biopic is anchored by a devastating performance by Toni Servillo as Andreotti, brilliantly capturing the gnomic politician's trademark slouch and inexpressive face.

Seldom has any movie shown so much geriatric sex and full-frontal nudity (male and female). But, thanks to Dresen, it is all done with taste and sensitivity.

Fives us behind-the-scene looks at Hirohito, the man and the ruler. The diminutive leader comes off sympathetically, as a man concerned with the welfare of his people.

Cheung and Nick Nolte seem unlikely co-stars, but co-star they do in Clean, giving gritty performances under the direction of Frenchman Olivier Assayas.

It is up to each viewer to decide if the Mojave project is a stroke of genius or a very expensive boondoggle.

Unfolds leisurely, in anecdotal style, with deadpan humor and a sense of the absurd.

Directed by Susan Montford, While She Was Out is a straight-to-DVD movie making a brief stop in theaters.

Shot in black-and-white, La Tropical serves as an atmospheric portrait of Cuba in the twilight of Castro's rule.

As directed by Ole Christian Madsen, the thriller features well-choreographed shootouts and assassinations. But the script is too melodramatic and complicated for its own good.

Mostly We Are Wizards is a loving, if flawed, tribute to creativity and artistic freedom.

The acting is super -- these guys know how to be sweet and disgusting -- and the story provides its share of laughs. But after a while, the one-note movie, directed by Felix van Groeningen, grows tiresome.

Albou's chosen a touchy subject, which she treats sensitively. Her mature script is complemented by heartfelt turns by Fanny Valette as Laura and Elsa Zylberstein as Mathilde.

Ends in a cascade of sentimentality straight out of Hollywood. Not even Chweneyagae's excellent acting or Lance Gewer's dark photography can save the film.

Mildly diverting, but lacks humor and pathos.

Starts slowly but builds, Hitchcock-style, to a terrifying crescendo. And don't fool yourself into thinking you know what's going to happen.

The story unfolds as slowly as does life in Cayeux. There's minimal dialogue and even less action.

Ranks high on the squirm meter. But, unlike in most of her earlier work, there's no emotional payoff.

Director-writer Roger Stigliano used a tiny budget to fashion an endearing screwball comedy that brings to mind Jonathan Demme's "Something Wild" (1986).

It includes abundant sex and full-frontal nudity, not to titillate but because it's needed to convey the inner sexual turmoil the girls are going through.

Has a promising start. But it quickly becomes tiresome and cliché-ridden - not to mention depressing and pointless.

Chabrol, who is often called the French Hitchcock because of his intricate thrillers, is approaching the big 8-0, yet he continues to do quality work, as shown by A Girl Cut in Two.

Kim Rossi Stuart gives an excellent performance.

If you enjoy intelligent, challenging filmmaking, Tropical Malady is for you.

Pleasantly free of blood and guts, with Kurosawa using instead the mighty power of suggestion to give Pulse an invigorating aura of menace.

I have a feeling that this is the last time we'll see a down-and-dirty Ellen Page. Her handlers have too much wrapped up in her mainstream persona to ever again allow her to do anything as daring and out of the loop as The Tracey Fragments. And that's a shame.

The 66-year-old African-American, the subject of the inspiring documentary A Man Named Pearl, doesn't have scissors where his hands should be, but he turns trees and bushes into topiary sculptures every bit as amazing as the ones Johnny Depp's character crafts in the Tim Burton film.

One of the most beautiful movies you're likely to see this year. And the cast members, all amateurs, are first-rate.

Ends in magnificent fashion, with skyscrapers bowing to Beethoven's Ninth. It's a stirring ending to a sweet movie.

So potent, it could change the mind of even the most staunch defender of capital punishment.

Andy Lau and Siu Fai Mak, the men behind the successful Hong Kong police thriller trio "Infernal Affairs," should be arrested for directing Initial D.

Anchored by the performance of Shu Qi, who has come a long way from her days as a nudie pin-up. She's a first-rate actress.

Just as the story is minimalist, so too is the documentary-like film's look: long static takes and tons of close-ups. An epilogue allows viewers to come to terms with the film's tragic ending.

Encounters may lack the power of, say, the Herzog doc "Grizzly Man," because it has no bigger-than-life character at its nexus, but it does confirm the filmmaker as an iconoclastic master.

A soggy love story doesn't help this instance of style over substance.

The dreamy drama Emile shows how a talented cast can turn a tentative plot into pleasant viewing.

Fox can't decide if Walk on Water is a terrorist thriller or a gay buddy story, and neither can the viewer.

Sex can be fun and exciting and wonderful. It also can be deadly boring, as in Psychopathia Sexu alis.

Delightful performances are delivered by all in this ingenious work of cinema that is worth seeing if only for its glorious views of the Himalayas.

Both witty and poignant.

A witty mix of "Frankenstein" and David Lynch's "Eraserhead" - with a tip of the hat to Hitchcock's "Saboteur" - Puzzlehead is an indie delight.

Mylan and Shenk provide an engrossing look at these bright, clean-cut young men and the obstacles they faced in "the land of plenty." In doing so, the filmmakers also reveal a lot about the American character.

An animated feature that revels in its low-tech wackiness.

The impressive first feature by Sergio Machado, a one-time assistant to Walter Salles ("The Motorcycle Diaries"), is a trip through a grungy world of crime, sex and cockfights.

Medina has taken a series of vignettes and fashioned them into a feature film as aimless as Luciano’s life. There’s no buildup or payoff; still, Hendler’s laid-back performance makes Medina’s film worth seeking out.

Can't overcome the familiar, soapy script.

As with "Distant," the dialogue is minimal, the takes are long, the narrative is laconic (too much so for many viewers, I imagine) and the cinematography is painterly.

Director-writer Jang Jun-hwan starts things off with a bang and never looks back, pushing up the excitement periodically.

Could do with a tad of editing itself. Other than that, there's nothing bad to say about this cool homage to the film world's unsung heroes: editors.

Proceeds along familiar genre lines. But the denouement comes as a surprise, the five women are great screamers, and the cinematography and music add to the general feeling of menace.

iIt is clear that it would have benefited from black-and-white cinematography. And the melodramatic musical soundtrack is annoying and unnecessary.

Mirjana Karanovic (Esma) and Luna Mijovic (Sara) give powerful performances as Zbanic imbues a simple story with a powerful commentary on the Bosnian war's devastating impact on the innocent.

Daring, mesmerizing and exceedingly hard to forget.

If only "reality" TV was as realistic as Quitting.

A powerful account of how the American dream became a nightmare for one Laotian family.

It could be set during the war in Iraq, but the brutal French film Intimate Enemies takes place in 1959, at the height of the Algerian struggle against French rule.

The film is well-constructed, as one would expect from Gondry, but it offers little reason for anyone outside the family circle to care about dear old Tante Suzette.

Gabizon has a great idea. But he ruins it by devoting too much time to colorful but unnecessary characters.

Everybody involved in 39 Pounds of Love probably had the best of intentions. But watching the filmmakers scurry about to record every last tear, I couldn't help but feel that this twisted little man was being exploited.

We also begin to suspect that Deraspe is putting us on - that this is a mockumentary, not a documentary. About the time that a bunch of grown men and women - stoned and drunk - start playing spin the bottle (spin the bottle!), we're certain that she's tricking us. Or is she? It's anybody's guess.

Blame It on Fidel doesn't aim for the profundity of Costa-Gavras films like "State of Siege" and "Z" - but who's complaining?

Splinterheads might suffice some late night on cable, but that's about it.

These were people willing to take chances. Would that Trank had taken chances in telling their stories.

A flawed black comedy about two buddies who open a butcher's shop in a small Danish town.

Strictly for art-house types, particularly those familiar with the director, who makes no concessions to mainstream audiences. You have to abandon any preconceived notions about movies and allow your mind to be seduced by the mystifying, occasionally humorous world of a one-of-a-kind filmmaker. You might even find yourself becoming a fan.

Uninspired in style, and Joan Allen's narration is dry.

A heartwarming family fable that parents and kids can enjoy.

The movie is frightening not only because of the severe effects the ailment can have on the human body but also because it shows that many doctors are unable to diagnose, let alone treat, the malady.

If you're looking for substance in a Hong Kong movie, stick with Wong Kar-wai ("In the Mood for Love"). But if brainless, predictable fun will do, check out Shaolin Soccer.

What could have been a biting dark comedy is, instead, uninspired and generic. The contrived, everybody's-happy finale just makes things worse.

The Israeli feature For My Father is a rarity indeed: A sweet, sentimental movie about a suicide bomber.

A rousing indictment of a barbaric practice.

The film plays like one long commercial. The music's cool, but you're better off buying the CD.

There's potential here, but the script is entirely too, shall we say, Hollywood. There's even a dog-poop joke.

Unfortunately, Angelou's detached and often superfluous narration lessens the film's impact.

The acting is superb, especially the always alluring Charlotte Gainsbourg as a mysterious Englishwoman taking the ship to America. Agnes Godard's lensing is painterly, and Crialese's direction is seamless.

You can't help wondering how prisoners who practiced Vipassana fared as free men.

Debbie, for better or for worse, is the high point of the entertaining but lightweight film, which is better suited to public TV than the big screen. Oh, yes. If anybody should decide to open another beauty school in Kabul, be sure to leave Debbie in Indiana.

The characters are too cliched to be funny, and Jensen's script can't stay focused long enough to make an impression. Where is Lars von Trier when we need him?

The toilet caper is the lowest point of a movie with many low points, including bad acting and a generic script.

Kids will get off on Bugs! and then go home and have nightmares. Adults who accompany them may have to fight off sleep before they get home.

Inventive and bold, Jesus, You Know will especially resonate with people, like this critic, whose strict Catholic upbringing (some might call it brainwashing) inalterably shaped their lives.

The star of the movie is Caeli Veronica Smith, 12, an accomplished violinist who frequently performs in the park. Seeing her play in person would be worth the bus trip to Philly.

If you're new to Kaurismaki, the film will make you a fan. If you've seen everything else he's ever done, the comedy will confirm your commitment.

The writer-director, who goes by the name J Blakeson, keeps the suspense level high for the first hour or so, but he then indulges in a few plot twists that strain credibility.

A stinging and frightening indictment of mainland China.

A high point shows O'Day, in a black-and-white hat and form-fitting dress, singing "Sweet Georgia Brown" at the Newport Jazz Festival. That scene alone confirms O'Day's place among the greats.