Big Questions, Smart Women, Mann’s Movies

By A. O. SCOTT and MANOHLA DARGIS

Cannes Film Festival/European Pressphoto Agency

A scene from the Thai film “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.”

The co-chief film critics of The Times answer reader questions on cultural differences in movies, character actresses and independent film, and Joel Coen chimes in on the issue of cats.

More Back-and-Forth With the Critics

Prehistoric Cave With a Hornet on the Wall

By LARRY ROHTER

Marc Valesella

The director Werner Herzog in the Chauvet cave in France for his documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams.”

Last year the director Werner Herzog was allowed to film in the Chauvet cave in southeastern France, where archaeologists have found wall paintings 32,000 years old.

Two Old Acting Pals, Together on Film at Last

By JOHN MARCHESE

Sam Urdank/Maya Entertainment

From left, Orlando Bloom, Juliette Lewis and Dov Tiefenbach in “Sympathy for Delicious,” directed by Mark Ruffalo and written by Christopher Thornton.

Mark Ruffalo and Christopher Thornton met as acting students 20 years ago. Now, after a decade-long struggle, their first film together, “Sympathy for Delicious,” is being released.

News & Features

Christine Bottomley portrays Lisa Dunbar, the daughter of the British playwright Andrea Dunbar.

Lip-Syncing the Realities of a Tragic Life

By DENNIS LIM

In “The Arbor,” the filmmaker Clio Barnard revisits the hard-knock life and tough-minded work of the playwright Andrea Dunbar, who died at age 29 in 1990.

Interview: Clio Barnard

Just a Maid in Movies, but Not Forgotten

By MANOHLA DARGIS

Theresa Harris, a black actress whose usual role was as a servant, is one of the inspirations for a new play by Lynn Nottage.

DVD

A scene from Jacques Feyder's 1916 film “Heads and Women Who Use Them.”

At Gaumont in France When All Was Possible

By DAVE KEHR

For anyone interested in how the movies came to be what they are, “Gaumont Treasures, Vol. 2, 1908-1916,” released by Kino International, is essential viewing.

Ellen Barkin Is No Uptown Girl

By ALEX WITCHEL

“I was extremely naive for someone who considers herself a very smart, savvy, cynical New York broad.”

RIFF

Thelma, Louise and All the Pretty Women

By CARINA CHOCANO

Twenty years ago, two female-focused movies looked like they’d change the world. Only one actually did.

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Movie Reviews

MOVIE REVIEW | 'INCENDIES'

Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin as a daughter who travels from Canada to the Mideast, in Denis Villeneuve's “Incendies.”

Scavenger Hunt for Family Secrets Across Time and Geography

By A. O. SCOTT

“Incendies,” Denis Villeneuve’s film based on a play by Wajdi Mouawad, is a family quest narrative that takes place in Quebec and an unnamed country resembling Lebanon.

MOVIE REVIEW | 'THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD'

Morgan Spurlock in a scene from “Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.”

The Hidden Persuaders Come Out in Full Force

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

A filmmaker dissects the world of product placement and advertising by making a documentary financed entirely by product placement and advertising.

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MOVIE REVIEW | 'THE WARRING STATES'

Brutal Battles and Raging Melodrama

By MIKE HALE

A film loosely based on a bloody and chaotic period of Chinese history.

MOVIE REVIEW | 'WATER FOR ELEPHANTS'

Christoph Waltz and Reese Witherspoon in “Water for Elephants,” based on the novel.

Love Triangle Sideshow, a Circus’s Main Attraction

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

Francis Lawrence directs Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson in “Water for Elephants,” a film adaptation of Sara Gruen’s novel about a Depression-era traveling circus.

Movie Overview | Showtimes | Trailers | Rate and Review

MOVIE REVIEW | 'CHILDREN OF HIROSHIMA'

Nobuko Otowa in “Children of Hiroshima,” a 1952 Japanese film making its United States premiere.

Japanese Survivors Shaded by Puzzlement and Sorrow

By A. O. SCOTT

The 1952 Japanese film “Children of Hiroshima” by Kaneto Shindo makes its United States debut as part of a retrospective devoted to Mr. Shindo at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Movie Overview | Showtimes | Trailers | Rate and Review

MOVIE REVIEW | 'BEAUTIFUL DARLING'

Candy Darling and Andy Warhol, from “Beautiful Darling.”

A Warhol ‘Superstar,’ Closer to Earth

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

“Beautiful Darling,” James Rasin’s documentary about the transsexual Warhol “superstar” Candy Darling, is also a meditation on the worship of movie stars.

MOVIE REVIEW | 'LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN'

Donnie Yen in “Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen.”

A Tale of the Jazz Age, One With Flying Kicks

By MIKE HALE

“Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen” mines again that kung fu mother lode “Fist of Fury,” this time for an adventure set in Shanghai after World War I.