Art and movie

The achievement of “Into Great Silence” is the way it captures the slow, delicate rhythm of the Carthusian monks.

Underneath the surface of racial and sexual button pushing in “Black Snake Moan” is a heart of pure, buttery cornpone.

The title may suggest a wildlife documentary, but “The Cats of Mirikitani” is entirely, vibrantly human.

A graphic study of sex and drug addiction, “Rock Bottom” goes beyond the pieties of the recovery movements to confront deeper questions about the pursuit of sensation.

In the deathbed drama “Two Weeks,” Sally Field creates an agonizing portrait of a middle-aged American everywoman in the final stages of ovarian cancer.

The moment at the dawn of adolescence when hormones and daydreams swirl into a heady fog of confusion is poetically evoked in “Wild Tigers I Have Known.”

There is a thin line separating visionaries from fools, and Billy Bob Thornton walks it adroitly in “The Astronaut Farmer.”

A bit of patience is required to get through “The Taste of Tea,” but patience is often rewarded, and it certainly is by this droll and oddly touching film.

“Starter for Ten” tackles a lofty subject — the allure of knowledge — with down-to-earth charm.

“The Wayward Cloud” offers one plausible moral: If life hands you watermelons, make love to them.