Dumped on an unsuspecting public on Christmas day, Alfonso Cuaron's dystopian thriller Children of Men didn't make megabucks at the box office and was shamefully overlooked by the Academy. Only three months later, here's the DVD. Don't miss it. Also: Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower and Princesas, a drama about Spanish prostitutes.
1. Children of Men
In Alfonso Cuaron's skilled hands, the most fully imagined dystopia since Blade Runner turns into a harrowing tour de force. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, and Claire-Hope Ashitey make it all way-too-credible, and like every good bad future, the implications for our present are real. See it once hiding behind your hands, see it again for Cuaron's breathtaking direction.
2. Princesas
Pretty Woman it's not. In Fernando Leon de Aranoa's Princesas, Caye and Zulema, two melancholic whores in Madrid, hustle for clients, look out for each other and talk dreamily of better times. Candela Pena and Michaela Nevarez star in Fernando León de Aranoa's honest engrossing drama abour prostitution.3. Curse of the Golden Flower
Flying assassins, lavish sets, and Gong Li's cleavage are among the stunning visuals in Zhang Yimou’s epic melodrama. The new film from the director of Hero and Raise the Red Lantern is the most successful of his recent forays into action spectaculars.