Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or-winning second feature, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” an intimate drama of two friends forced to seek extralegal abortion under Communist rule, played better as a thriller than a message movie. The same curious quality informs Mungiu’s follow-up, “Beyond the Hills,” a gripping depiction of a remote Romanian monastery that similarly falls short of making a statement. Read more...

The Oscar prediction game usually comes down to the Short films – many a perfect score has been ruined by guessing winners via the less-than-foolproof method of whoever’s name sounds most award-worthy. Read more...

Photo: Minkyu Lee’s 2-D “Adam and Dog” is a retelling of Adam and Eve through the perspective of man’s best friend.

By most technical standards, Miguel Gomes’ “Tabu” is a film out of time. It’s shot in gauzy black and white, it’s framed in boxy Academy ratio, and the latter half of the film, titled “Paradise” and without dialogue, is devoted to a love story set in Portuguese-colonized Africa. Read more...