V.A. Musetto

It is filmmaking as it should be but usually isn't.

Carlos is exciting entertainment, even if its subject's two-decade reign of terror is reprehensible.

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]

While Tarr's newest epic, Werckmeister Harmonies, isn't intended for the shopping-mall crowd, it is more viewer-friendly and will please adventurous moviegoers.

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.

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

A rousing indictment of a barbaric practice.

Daring and unique, La Commune makes perfect viewing for the Fourth of July, which commemorates America's own revolution.

It is a vivid, at times heartbreaking, portrait of a life and a nation in crisis.

The tedious film might have been worth watching if Burman had given reasons to care about Ariel or anyone else. He doesn't and we don't.

Koreeda, talented director that he is, never allows the story to sink into soap-opera melodrama, and he refrains from pointing fingers.

Be warned: The Tree is slow-moving, but if given a chance, it will (pardon the pun) grow on you.

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

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.

Mafioso starts out as a comedy of manners before turning into a mob thriller that brings Nino to Bergen County, N.J. When he gets there, look for a man reading The Post on a street corner.

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

Kore-eda presents the deeply moving story in a documentary style that is both gentle and compelling.

It's expertly directed in a low-key, naturalistic way that brings to mind French auteur Robert Bresson. It's also emotionally forceful and contains heartbreaking performances.

Poetry, which rightfully won the best-screenplay prize at Cannes, never resorts to exploitation. Under Lee's guidence, it is a mature film for mature audiences.

The result is a magnificent feast for the eyes and brain.

The film's disclosure that Camorra money is involved with the reconstruction of New York City's Ground Zero will give viewers something to think about.

Herzog tries to make sense out of the blond-haired young man, who looked an awful lot like Kinski.

Nadezhda Markina is splendid as Elena, who speaks little but still manages to make her thoughts and emotions crystal clear.

Perplexing but pleasing.

A deliciously elusive mystery.

Breezy, entertaining and enlightening.

A sensitive and subtle meditation on aging, loss and bereavement.

‘A brave man and a brave poet.” That’s Bob Dylan talking about Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet, painter, publisher, anarchist, civil libertarian — in this lively documentary by Christopher Felver.

One reason it rings true is because the script is based on Gaglia's real experiences.

If there's an awkward moment, it's the scene in which the monks take part in a sort of Last Supper, drinking wine while Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" plays in the background. You keep waiting for Natalie Portman to twirl into the room.

A sentimental, whimsical autobiography.

With Japan facing a new nuclear crisis, this beautifully composed and acted heart-wrencher -- couldn't be more timely.

The film is conventional in style and is likely to mean more to the sadly forgotten musician's fans than to others.

The climactic shootout, which goes on for 15 minutes and has an astronomical body count, is a masterpiece of its kind.

A thought-provoking documentary that would go well on a double bill with Richard Linklater's fictional "Fast Food Nation."

The 34-year-old Meadows has assembled an effective cast, especially newcomer Thomas Turgoose as Shaun and veteran Stephen Graham as Combo.

Can be summed up in one word: style.

The real star of The Son isn't lead actor Olivier Gourmet. It's the back of his neck, which the camera obsessively focuses on throughout this difficult but rewarding Belgian drama.

A must for Jaglom fans. For other viewers, it will depend upon how much they can take of Jaglom's improvisational style and Frederick's over-the-top, tear-filled acting.

A startling look at the devastating human cost of China's newfound embrace of capitalism.

Fans of Hou know just what to expect from his slow, contemplative films - and they won't be disappointed.

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

The Pianist recalls "Schindler's List," even down to its weakness: Just as Spielberg's film turned sentimental in its final half hour, Polanski's work, too, has a schmaltz coda. But that doesn't make The Pianist any less effective.

All too often, films about interconnected lives stumble under the weight of coincidences. Not The Edge of Heaven.

Lebanon is inspired by the director's traumatic days at the front, giving his work a sense of authority.

Difficult but rewarding.

As the wife, pixie-ish Kanako Higuchi provides the perfect accompaniment to Watanabe.

The story is good-natured, but Panahi's message is serious: That ludicrous rules turn Iranian women into third-class citizens. And what better way is there to get that point across than through sports and laughter?

This isn't a war movie. Rather, it's a powerful, heart-tugging portrait of the innocent victims of conflict.

In the end, inner peace is found by all - on screen and in the audience.

Daniele Cipri's highly stylized lensing and Carlo Crivelli's bold score add to the movie's flamboyant aura. But then, the story of a bombastic dictator deserves a bombastic telling.

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.

You are left with two emotions - despair and hope - after watching producer-director Jennifer Dworkin's disquieting documentary.

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

So, should you see The Intruder? Yes -- but only if you're willing to ignore bothersome concerns about narrative and let the poetic images take over your mind.

A fantastical genre-buster.

A Western, but any similarities between it and, say, a Gene Autry or Hopalong Cassidy shoot-em-up are nonexistent.

Huppert is, as usual, superb, proving yet again that she is the finest actress working in France today.

Director Lee Chang-dong could well have cut 30 minutes out of the story, but Jeon's performance is powerful enough to keep Secret Sunshine from drowning in an ocean of tears.

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.

Pretty but tedious Euro-pap at its most self-indulgent.

China's public image suffers another blow with Up the Yangtze, a documentary by Chinese-Canadian Yung Chang.

Brutality and tenderness are a potent mix in War Witch.

Guy Maddin's films are always delightful, but his latest, My Winnipeg, has an added treat for film buffs: It features Ann Savage!

Despite its themes, Oslo, August 31st is an exhilarating film, with impeccable direction and pitch-perfect performances that make the bleakness worthwhile.

It's time to stop calling Azazel Jacobs a "promising" filmmaker. With Momma's Man, Jacobs achieves the promise.

If "Starsky & Hutch" is your idea of art, keep your distance from Distant, the droll new movie from maverick Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. If, on the other hand, you're searching for something that will remain with you long after leaving the theater, run, don't walk, to Distant.

You will be so put off by the bland couple (what do you expect from people named Joe and Jane?) and their dumb arguing - not to mention the grating score - that you won't really care.

A riveting documentary.

It's a highly erotic work that at no point seems staged. Credit brilliant use of fog, mirrors, silhouettes, slow motion and special effects worthy of a music video.

There's not much new in this Filipino film by longtime director Gil M. Portes. But it's so endearing that only a grouch wouldn't be charmed.

A must-see for Miike's passionate legion of fans. But even action buffs who've never seen any of his films before will be drawn in by this masterful exercise in cinematic butchery.

A loving tribute to cinema by Tsai Ming-liang, one of Taiwan's most accomplished and popular directors.

The cast is solid, with standout performances by first-timer Habib Boufares as Slimane.

The drivel they call "reality TV" pales in comparison with the gripping big-screen documentary Bus 174.

It's the dancing that makes Pina a visual delight. It should appeal to dance mavens, and to folks who have no idea what a pas de deux is.

Despite its stomach-turning images (and maybe because of), it is a daring, provocative work by a talented helmer who gets off pushing the envelope. He should be supported, no matter how outlandish he gets.

An exploration of the power of religion -- should delight Dumont's fans. For others, it will take a bit of getting used to. The effort will prove to be worthwhile.

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

Lilya is portrayed by Oksana Akinshina, who gives a dynamic, heartbreaking performance... She was wonderful in ["Brothers"], but is even more astonishing in Lilya 4-Ever.

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

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.

The actors can't escape the confines of the warmed-over, coming-of-age-in-suburbia script by Mills, from a novel by Walter Kirn.

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

Thoughtful and entertaining documentary.

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.

The complexity might require a second viewing, but there is compensation in the realistic acting by a cast of non-pros and the eye-grabbing, hand-held lensing by Boaz Yehonatan Yacov.

The story becomes so convoluted and contrived that much of the tension dissipates.

Loving but overlong meditation on movies and the people who make them.

Algenis Perez Soto was a baseball player in real life, which helps to explain his sensitive, understated performance as Sugar. But he's let down by a manipulative script recycled from dozens of sports and immigrant movies. At least it dispenses with a Hollywood ending.

First-time director Jeff Malmberg tells Hogancamp's fascinating story with sensitivity, never resorting to exploitation.

Not exactly as well known as Megadeth or Metallica, Anvil did indeed have 15 minutes of fame back in the 1980s. Then it went into obscurity. Now it's back, trying like hell to be somebody.

Despite having no previous film experience, Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson give evocative performances as Oskar and Eli, respectively.

Literate and engrossing, with excellent performances.

Le Havre is warm-hearted and uplifting, without being schmaltzy or preachy. And, with its illegal-alien theme, it's dead-on timely.

Days of Glory has good intentions and a well-executed combat scene, but it could do with more originality.

Far from earthshaking, but it's fun while it lasts.

The news footage, so powerful on its own, needs no enhancement. The dramatized scenes only slow the film's momentum.