Intouchables

Eric Toledano's The Intouchables (France, 2011) - 2012CES Best Actor Winner. A slickly made French comedy that hits all the right beats despite some troublingly glib social assertions, Untouchables (Les Untouchables) should find a wide audience on its French release November 2, and, through Gaumont, an international market on a level perhaps akin to Heartbreakers. Film was the closing night of the San Sebastian Film Festival. With winning central performances from Francois Cluzet as a rich tetraplegic and Omar Sy as the Senegalese jailbird from the projects who become one of cinema’s more improbable odd couples - although this is based on a true-life story - Untouchables has a well-defined commercial streak, hitting all the notes for this genre with a practiced deftness. 2011SANSoc-closing, 2011TOK, 2012CES, 2012SANF, 2012SEA, 2013OE. RATING: 8

Chasing Ice

Jeff Orlowski's Chasing Ice (US, 2012) - The case for climate change is mounted in visually breathtaking yet conventional fashion in "Chasing Ice." Following the exhaustive efforts of photographer-scientist James Balog to capture irrefutable evidence of the world's glaciers in retreat, first-time helmer Jeff Orlowski's documentary supplies a heroic human-interest angle on global warming that's ultimately less remarkable than the grandeur of its arctic imagery. Emphasis on the picture's must-see time-lapse visuals could help National Geographic's Sundance pickup overcome the usual theatrical-docu hurdles before edutainment/ancillary payoff. 2012SANF, 2012SEA, 2012SUN. RATING: 6

Smashed

James Ponsoldt's Smashed (US, 2012) - A terrific performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a rock-bottom alcoholic is only one reason to appreciate "Smashed," an affecting and immersive addiction drama about the unforeseen pitfalls along the road to recovery. Scribe-helmer James Ponsoldt's sad, funny and strangely exuberant second feature weaves a few plot strands too many as it pushes its protag toward her big moment of cathartic self-reckoning, but is enhanced by a rich, offbeat sense of life teeming in the margins. Distribs would do well to emphasize the picture's engaging, non-depressive approach to admittedly hard-sell material that will need critical support to get anywhere commercially. 2012SUN, 2012TOR. RATING:7

A Late Quartet

Yaron Zilberman's A Late Quartet (US, 2011) - When the beloved cellist of a world-renowned string quartet is diagnosed with a life threatening illness, the group's future suddenly hangs in the balance as suppressed emotions, competing egos and uncontrollable passions threaten to derail years of friendship and collaboration. As they are about to play their 25th anniversary concert — quite possibly their last — only their intimate bond and the power of music can preserve their legacy. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mark Ivanir, Imogen Poots, Christopher Walken and Catherine Keener. 2011TOR. RATING: 7.

Killing Them Softly

Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly (US, 2012) - A routine, even mundane crime story relayed in tones of world-weary fatigue, "Killing Them Softly" deglams the mob movie to coolly distinctive if rarely pulse-quickening effect. Trading in pleasures of a deliberately rarefied sort, writer-director Andrew Dominik's talky, character-rich genre piece largely short-circuits thrills to sketch a grimly funny portrait of thugs taking care of business, in every rotten sense of the word. Results are at once a bit pretentious and worth savoring by those who don't mind a low-octane approach, spelling moderate B.O. for the fall Weinstein Co. release, though a well-cast Brad Pitt could enhance its prospects.

The Collection

Marcus Dunstan's The Collection (US, 2012) - A man who escapes from the vicious grips of the serial killer known as "The Collector" is blackmailed to rescue an innocent girl from the killer's booby-trapped warehouse. RATING: 7.

Redemption Street

Miroslav Terzic's Redemption Street (Serbia, 2012) - 2012SAR Best Actor Winner. Dušan, a young deputy war crimes prosecutor, is given the task to investigate a paramilitary formation, the First Pioneer's unit, that was operating on the battlefields in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, where they disappeared without a trace. Dušan is determined to bring the case to an end and to show his father, a famous retired professor at the faculty of law, but to his boss too, the war crimes prosecutor, that he is capable of doing this job. This becomes for Dušan much more than a simple case – it becomes a personal confrontation. We do not expect much of the investigation and by Dušan's associates it is condemned to failure, until he finds the unit's only surviving soldier, Mićun, who tried to live peacefully and quietly. Dušan and Mićun's encounter changes their lives and directly affects their families. 2012SAR. RATING: 7