Makhmalbaf continues her rise as Iran's most promising young female filmmaker, and Iranian cinema extends its reign as one of the world's most exciting cultural phenomena.

This is an op-ed polemic, and it's refreshing to see one so skillfully produced by filmmakers with a shoestring budget and meager access to mainstream distribution. A must-see movie, no matter what your politics are.

Exhilarating doses of style, imagination, and sheer energy.

This modestly produced family drama has all the poignancy and humor associated with today's vibrant Iranian film industry.

Ingenious, eye-opening documentary.

The eerie tale is steeped in brooding atmosphere and psychological suspense thanks to Glazer's hugely imaginative visual style and creative use of music, sound, and silence.

The material is right up Schrader's alley, and while his vision of the first "Exorcist" chapter isn't a masterpiece, it's far superior to the Renny Harlin prequel to "The Exorcist" released last year.

Should be required viewing for every concerned citizen.

Noyce's movie pares away the novel's meditations on the futility of war and the importance of religion. It retains the book's thoughtful blending of psychological and moral issues.

A full-fledged masterpiece.

It's the best animated fun of the year, and you don't need a lamp or a genie to enjoy it.

The movie doesn't reach any deep insights, but its mixture of psychology, philosophy, and realpolitik is downright riveting.

A pungent, powerful film that points an accusing finger not at religious beliefs but at flawed human institutions. It also targets social and cultural mores that are almost medieval in their patriarchal bias against girls and women.

Cantet has rich insights into this material, and brings them alive through sensitive acting and powerful filmmaking.

It's unlikely there will ever be a more moving portrait of the shared selfhood, usually veiled by politics, common to the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.

Superb performances by Setsuko Hara and the great Chishu Ryu also contribute to the film's impact, which is at once deeply moving and profoundly thoughtful about moral and spiritual issues. [10 Nov 1994, p.12]

Intelligent yet easy-going masterpiece.

The performances by Phoenix and Hoffman are studies in contrast. Phoenix carries himself with a jagged, lurching, simianlike grace while Hoffman gives Dodd a calm deliberateness. Both actors have rarely been better in the movies. The real Master class here is about acting – and that includes just about everybody else in the film, especially Adams, whose twinkly girl-next-door quality is used here to fine subversive effect.

Lively characters, snappy dialogue, and snazzy visuals make this an uncommonly fine animation.

In the end, this melancholy, inspiriting movie achieves a breathtaking emotional harmoniousness.

The latter element joins with Crudup's excellent acting to make this deliberately scruffy tale a worthwhile experience if you can handle its explicitly sordid subplots.

The acting is smart and gritty, Almereyda's visual style has a raw immediacy found in few films with Shakespearean pedigrees, and an eclectic music score adds atmosphere and surprise every step of the way.

It's never been topped.

An ingeniously scripted psychological thriller.

A remarkable movie about a remarkable friendship. It honors the audience's intelligence, which makes it a double rarity.

This is a riveting treatment of a fascinating subject.

A semi-improvised, microbudget marvel with a range of feeling that shames most big-budget star-driven movies.

To call it “immersive” is an understatement.