V.A. Musetto

Director Susanne Bier is helped by a well-chosen cast, especially the glowing Nielsen, a Danish-born actress best known for American films like "Gladiator."

Long, talky and shot in black and white. In other words, it requires a commitment in time and brain power - a commitment worth making.

Bears more than a passing resemblance in story and form to "The Twilight Samurai," but stands on its own as a pleasant, if unremarkable, romance.

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

A master class on turning a talky, one-man play into a visual delight.

The result is a finely plotted, stylishly photographed and brilliantly acted whodunit that clocks in at 2 1/2 hours but never seems long.

Low-budget triumph.

There's style and panache to spare. Mournful jazz adds to the mood.

Lush and poetic, Dolls proves once again that Kitano is one of the world's most original filmmakers.

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

Hilarious from first frame to last.

If the documentary has a star, it's pony-tailed AES exec Piers Lewis, who had the impossible job of getting Georgians to actually pay for their electricity.

A thinking man's buddy movie.

Despite copious full-frontal female nudity, House of Pleasures isn't mere sexploitation. Rather, it's a gorgeously filmed portrait of a bygone era, with painstaking attention to period detail. On the downside, the movie is overlong.

There's little reason to see the claustrophobic Chronicling a Crisis unless you have a fascination with the Kolleks. Watching the vanity project is like being forced to sit through a friend's boring home movies.

Should please die-hard fans as well as viewers who have never heard the band and its anthem, "Kick Out the Jams."

As this eye-opening documentary shows, the suits who run MLB are the real bad guys here, treating the aspiring ballplayers as so much sausage.

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.

Call this a profile in courage.

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

Part political thriller, part National Geographic travelogue, Tom Peosay's documentary is a distressing look at China's 50-year repression of the people of Tibet.

If you've seen either of the first two flicks in this outrageous series - "Oldboy" and "Sympathy for Mister Vengeance" - you know what's coming. Novices should prepare for mind-bending bloodshed and violence.

There's plenty of material here for a dark comedy, but director Martin Curland isn't up to the job. His film - like Luke - plods along, unsure of exactly what it's supposed to be.

The intolerance and inflexibility that marked the Taliban's brutal rule takes a solid hit in this lovely import from Bangladesh.

It takes a while to get used to the fractured narrative, but once done it is easy to put your mind on autopilot and go with the offbeat characters and events.

The tap-dance finale is a gem.

All this is loads of fun, but after a while sensory overload sets in, dulling the mind. Even in a kung-fu flick, more isn't always better.

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.