question: Though not as uproariously funny as Guest's previous movies, A Mighty Wind is also more heartfelt.

numbered reviews: 1. Though it may not be Guest et al's best effort to date, it's definitely not a shabby one. Fans of the troupe's odd humor and scathingly accurate caricatures will find much to be pleased about here
2. A Mighty Wind looks like it wasn't a big challenge for Guest and his ensemble cast of mockumentary regulars. But if this is what [they] can accomplish on cruise control all the power to them.
3. A Mighty Wind is a decent comedy, but it's also A Teeny Bland.
4. Without a familiarity with its characters, the movie plays out more like what it is ... than what it pretends to be.
5. The humour is very dry, only occasionally absurd, and always extremely close to the bone.
6. Guest manages to create a movie that is funny and somehow more touching and heartfelt than his earlier work.
7. ...the movie never makes fun of its subject, but pokes gentle fun at some of the more eccentric folk involved in it.
8. The film is merciless as it takes sharp aim with smooth, subtle style at many of the celebrity affectations that have been given a pass for too long now.
9. There are fewer laugh-out-loud moments than in Guest's previous efforts, but the lost laughs are traded for a greater-than-expected amount of poignancy.
10. After his previous windows on the absurd ... A Mighty Wind proves that Guest has turned parody into an art form.


question: There's nothing frivolous about beauty school when hearing about the individual lives of these women in Afghanistan, and the contrast between them and the idealistic beauticians from America.

numbered reviews: 1. An often touching and always intriguing look at the fall and rebirth of a nation and the resilient spirit of its women.
2. An example of fascinating material that frequently triumphs over its pedestrian presentation.
3. Mermin is quite skilled at separating the honorable intent of the school from dopey assumptions of several American beauticians.
4. Surprisingly, The Beauty Academy of Kabul provides equal insight into both cultures, showing how excessive, self-obsessed disconnect can shape a culture as strongly as a hideously intruding reality.
5. ... a documentary whose superficial image belies its profound impact.
6. ... a light and lively fly-on-the-wall piece that is occasionally aware of its own absurdity ...
7. Where there's makeup and hairspray, there's hope. The film draws on your sympathy, but it could play just as easily on PBS as it would on the big screen.
8. The title isn't a joke. And no, it's nowhere near as frivolous as you'd think.
9. There's great charm, and also discomfort, in watching these highly motivated, excited women learn the tricks of a trade practiced very differently from their own, and casually swap horror stories of life under the Taliban.
10. ... unlike Dead Poets, this film is actually focused on the students and interested in their attempts to take control of their own destinies.


question: Constructed with grace and wit, Va Savoir is a light-hearted yet cerebral romantic comedy of intertwining relations.

numbered reviews: 1. So pretentious, arch and spuriously clever that watching it almost makes your teeth ache.
2. It yields surprisingly unspectacular results.
3. The film is a work of extreme sensitivity, a gently absurdist wisdom, and a lighthearted grace.
4. [Rivette's] lost none of his trademark vigor and playfulness.
5. A demonstration of grace and wit.
6. Its warm humor and love for its characters ultimately wins us over to its side.
7. Articulating Rivette's most benign perspective on romantic love yet, Va Savoir leaves one with a kind of sated giddiness.
8. Throughout this aerial confection, 'real life' and artifice are intriguingly intertwined.
9. Va Savoir abounds in pleasures.
10. A dense, droll and frequently delightful account of that zone where art and life (and love) converge.


question: A poignant coming-of-age tale marked by a breakout lead performance from Abbie Cornish and a successful directorial debut from Cate Shortland.

numbered reviews:
1. A superb coming-of-age film with international appeal.
2. This visually haunting coming-of-age tale marks the individual stamp of yet another original Australian female director to watch.
3. The movie's centerpiece is a candid, fearless performance by newcomer Abbie Cornish.
4. there is an idea of a movie here, but no real movie.
5. ...it contains several startling, brilliant moments that bring its emotional and visual content together with tremendous clarity and power.
6. A mesmerizing Australian movie about one lonely sixteen-year-old girl's yearning for intimacy.
7. Heartfelt, painful, exhilarating and, above all, truthful.
8. [Cornish] gives a superb performance as Heidi, who is a complex mixture of childish innocence (symbolised by her ever-present scrapbook) and a powerful, almost dangerous sexual confidence that belies her emotional naivety.
9. Shortland paints a collage of regret: evocative snapshots of what might be; gritty footage of what is. Her cast is bursting with promise.
10. Absorbing and brave filmmaking.