Movie guide
Director: Achero Mañas. With Juan José Ballesta, Pablo Galán, Alberto Jiménez, Manuel Morón. (88 min.)
Sterritt *** The poignant yet unsentimental story of a 12-year-old boy - the film's title means "Pellet," his nickname - caught between his abusive father and a grown-up friend who'd like to rescue him from his bad family environment but is afraid of legal reprisals if he does. This drama has won an armload of international prizes, including multiple honors in Spain's equivalent of the Oscar race, marking Mañas as a director with a bright future. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville. With Alain Delon, Yves Montand, Gian Maria Volonté, André Bourvil. (140 min.)
Sterritt **** A glistening gem among caper movies, this impeccably elegant jewel-heist drama takes its title from Buddhist lore, its cast from France's great gallery of leading men, and its style from the unique blend of cinematic savoir-faire and brooding existential angst that Melville polished throughout his rich career. Completed by Melville and legendary cinematographer Henri Decae in 1970, the picture waited more than 30 years to reach American screens. In French with English subtitles (reissue).
Director: Akira Kurosawa. With Takashi Shimura, Haruo Tanaka, Minoru Chiaki, Shinichi Himori. (143 min.)
Sterritt **** Told by a physician that he has only six months to live, an aging Japanese bureaucrat takes a mournful look at the meaning of his life so far, then decides to accomplish something worth doing in the little time he has left. This masterpiece of 1952 is one of the gentlest, subtlest tales from one of Japan's all-time-great filmmakers, combining the sweep of a novel with the intimacy of an elegy. Also known as "To Live." In Japanese with English subtitles (reissue).
Director: Shawn Levy. With Ashton Kutcher, Brittany Murphy, Christian Kane, Taran Killam. (95 min.)
Staff * A fairy-tale honeymoon in Europe quickly becomes a nightmare for a young couple (Murphy and Kutchner) through her father's attempted sabotage and the groom's boorish treatment of the locals. The principals try to breathe life into the old gags, and the scenery is magnificent, but the filmmakers are unable to marry these elements into a cohesive motion picture. By M.K. Terrell
Sex/Nudity: 7 instances of innuendo. 1 scene of implied sex. Violence: 8 scenes, including assault. Profanity: 29 instances of profanity. Drugs: 12 scenes with drinking or smoking.
Director: Thomas Riedelsheimer. With Andy Goldsworthy. (90 min.)
Sterritt **** This documentary features a leisurely visit with a dedicated artist who treks into a variety of natural settings - from the meadows of his native Scotland to the rocks and rivers of Nova Scotia - to create sculptures out of nature. The film would be more informative if it put Goldsworthy into the broader context of modernist art movements. It's visually ravishing from start to finish, though, helped by Fred Frith's music, which puts a crowning touch on the movie as a work of art in its own right.
