The Pianist, UK-France-Germany-Netherlands-Poland, 2002, 148 min. Starring Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard. Directed by Roman Polanski. Brody won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as a musician enjoying some fame when the Nazis invade Poland and force him and his family into the ghetto. As time goes by his meager celebrity affords him some degree of advantage, while he continues to be a spectator to the horrors occurring around him. While this wrenching film is based on the true experiences of Wladyslaw Szpilman, it's clear that the material was deeply personal for Polanski, both in its relation to his own experiences and to the fact that this was the first film he made in his native land in four decades.

Talk To Her, Spain, 2002, 112 min. Starring Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Rosario Flores, Geraldine Chaplin. Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Two men develop an unusual bond as each cares for one of two comatose women who are stationed next to each other in the same ward, one a ballet dancer injured in a car accident, the other a bullfighter, gored in the ring. While more subdued than much of the director's other work, Almodóvar once again proves daring in his narrative, as well as continuing his ongoing exploration of the worship of the mystery of womanhood.