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"Mrs Henderson Presents" is directed by Stephen Frears, with the same wry, sure touch for comedy and place he brought to "The Snapper." It doesn't hurt that Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins, who co-produced, are the leads. They're in top form, with delicious material that is based on a true story. It begins in London in the Thirties. Laura Henderson (Dench), decides to buy a music hall rather than use her recent, substantial inheritance for charitable good works. The man she hires to manage her enterprise, Vivian Van Damm (Hoskins) agrees on the condition that she cannot interfere, though she tries repeatedly. Some of the best scenes in this always-entertaining movie revolve around their disagreements. Success eludes them until they replace the music hall with a nudie review.

Sets, costumes, and witty dialog capture the look and feel of upper crust London. Christopher Guest has a small but significant - and quite funny - role as a person vital to the review's success. Mrs. Henderson's true reason for her enterprise is eventually revealed, and it brings a bittersweet moment during the London Blitz. This delightful story played to an appreciative audience at the Austin Film Festival.

Frears seems able to helm any story well. The look and tone is as far from "The Grifers" or "Dirty Pretty Things" as you can get - but the story is equally compelling. Credit for the sparkle must also be given to writer Martin Sherman, who also wrote "Bent" and "Callas Forever." Whatever mood you're in when this film opens, you'll leave with a smile.

This Belgian film was titled "The Memory of A Killer" when it played in Austin in September. Known in Europe as "The Alzheimer Case," it's a police procedural about an aging hit man with early Alzheimer's who agrees to complete what he knows is his last assignment. Movies featuring a character with Alzheimer's are often somber, bittersweet weepers. "The Memory of a Killer" is nothing like that.

It's a taut, fast-paced noir with a protagonist who lives by the same code as that of Alain Delon in Jean Pierre Melville's "Le Samourai" or Jean Gabin in "Touchez Pas Au Grisbi." The hit man Angelo Ledda is portrayed by Belgian actor Jan Decleir. He won his country's top acting award and other European festival honors for his nuanced, empathic performance.

How Ledda knows what's happening to his mind is explained in a way totally credible to anyone who has known someone suffering from this disease. Even as his mind slips away, he retains his morality about certain crimes and that code eventually sends him in directions that surprise and anger his employer. Ledda's crimes and related crimes drive two police investigators - and Ledda - in a race against time. The plot threads become as tangled and mysterious as the tangles in Ledda's diseased mind and unravel in a stunning conclusion.

This film was made by Belgian director Erik Van Looy, whose stylish work won top honors along with Decleir. The film is based on the novel "De Zaak Alzheimer" by popular Belgian detective novelist Jef Geeraerts. Hopefully, it and his other novels will be translated into English. Geeraerts' psychological approach evokes another Belgian writer, the incomparable Georges Simenon. This is the first of Geeraerts' stories to reach the big screen, and Hollywood has bought the rights to a remake. Don't wait; see the original. Decleir's portrayal should not be missed.

"The Matador" stars Pierce Brosnan as a burned out assassin. He's James Bond gone to seed, in too-tight, garish clothes, gold chains, and an ugly haircut. Our struggling assassin, Julian Noble, is in Mexico, trying to regain his nerve. Staying at the same hotel is a likable, down-on-his luck businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), also trying to regain his equilibrium. Danny is desperate to close a deal and return to his wife in Denver (Hope Davis) with good news.

Noble and Wright unexpectedly become friends. Wright convinces Noble to reveal certain techniques, which he demonstrates at a bullfight. Noble is eventually targeted by his employers and shows up in Denver.

Writer and director Richard Shepard did the Q&A after this delightful movie at the Austin Film Festival. Shepard was also down on his luck. After suffering the loss of his agent and rejection of recent scripts, he decided to write a story no one would buy and create a character no one would want to play. Then Pierce Brosnan called. Brosnan regains his equilibrium in this movie. (There is life after Bond!) He has a wonderful flair for self-deprecating comedy. Don't miss it.

Stay for the closing credits to read what the filmmakers say about bullfighting. I look forward to more of Richard Shepard's projects.