rbreen

Directed by gangster movie heartthrob Sergei Bodrov Junior, this might be expected to be a shoot-'em up gangster caper movie. It isn't - in very Russian fashion, it's more about characters and issues than shooting, and while there are a couple of violent incidents, the pace is slow and the tone solemn.

The two sisters at the centre of the film - thirteen year old Sveta, poor and abandoned by her father, who longs to go off and be a sniper in the army, and spoilt eight-year old Dina, doted on by her gangster father - represent two very different aspects of modern Russia: the old, poor but moral; the young, cynical and money-obsessed. Sveta lives in a shabby home with her grandmother. Dina gets to live in a lavish apartment with their mother, and goes off to violin lessons. Not surprisingly, there's no love lost between the two.

But adversity, in the form of gang rivals on the search of some missing money and with few scruples about how to get their hands on it, throws the two together, plunging them into the Dickensian world of Russia's underground - dangerous and uncertain - and makes them value each other more than they ever have before. A couple of very naturalistic performances from the two makes this a fine, touching film.

A gritty, gripping thriller, Redball is set in the morally ambivalent world of a group of police officers in Australia. A blackly comic running gag is typical: a dead body, floating in the water, is ignored several times by officers who want to avoid the tedious paperwork involved in fishing it out. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose, the Vice Squad are busy shaking down the porn merchants, and the guys of the Drug Squad are ready to overlook the possession of a couple of joints by some young girls in exchange for sexual favours. The members of the public are no better, showing an unhealthy fascination with the grisly details of the serial killer. Even J J Wilson (Belinda McClory), a dedicated officer who wants to track down the man who is murdering young children, is not above breaking the law to get results. But the pressure of her job is getting to her - and the internal politics which threaten to undermine her work.

Shot on digital video, the picture quality is sometimes visibly inferior to film; on the other hand, it gives the story an immediate, natural feel that is perfect for this intense narrative. With a driving music score and pacy, effective editing, Redball is an excellent, compelling film.

A charming, sometimes funny film about a young Arab man on his way to Marseilles who gets caught up in the carnival in Dunkirk, where everyone lets their hair down and the normal rules of behaviour are waived for a while. He falls in love with Bea, a young woman who is torn between her attraction to the handsome young stranger and Christian, her husband. Some moments of visual splendour adorn a simple tale about the foolish little things we do in our lives.