Fresh out of Chile comes No, Pablo Larrain's whip-smart drama about the ad campaign that brought down Pinochet.
Things calm down visually, but this smart drama keeps alive the feeling that at any given moment far-flung events are about to converge in a dangerous way.
For those who have the good fortune to be in town this weekend, there's a screening that's not to be missed: "You Are All Captains," a brisk, graceful, tender, and smart drama, by the Spanish director Oliver Laxe.
And in addition to the slick "Ocean's Thirteen," Brad Pitt appeared as the legendary outlaw in "Jesse James," while his "Ocean's" co-star George Clooney played a lawyer who is morally adrift in "Michael Clayton," a smart drama that needed Mr. Clooney's star power to find its audience.
4. The Pass (Royal Court, London, 2014) Set in three hotel rooms over 13 years, John Donnelly's smart drama examines football's frequently confused attitudes to sexuality and race through the relationship between two players who come up through the same club.
Overall the smart drama entertains: Wyenn fosters an understated style that softens the spikier plot developments, and the performances, particularly Sullivan's, engage even when they don't entirely convince.
That deserves a little respect, and maybe an opportunity for CBS, the home network of landmark shows like All in the Family and M*A*S*H, to repave that ground again in bringing smart drama and comedy back to network television.
She means that more female filmmakers should tackle movie ideas and genres that are overtly commercial (read: dumbed down) in addition to the smart dramas and compact, personal stories they tend to gravitate toward.
A truer comparison would be to the dark, smart dramas of the Australian playwright and screenwriter Andrew Bovell ("Lantana"), who helped adapt an earlier Tsiolkas novel for the film "Head On".
