Fay Grim (Hal Hartley, 2006)

Begins as an enjoyable romp in unfamiliar generic territory for Hartley, but becomes ponderous in its purposefully Byzantine second half. Posey, Goldblum and Urbaniak are wonderfully adept at circumnavigating the deadpan cadences of Hartley's dialogue, but whimsy gives way to ponderous geo-political intrigue all too soon. Hartley's baroque style livens up the proceedings slightly - the exclusivity of Dutch angles, and the blurry stills during action sequences that serve as a riposte to Bourne-styled chop-socky - but all the same, a decline from the heights of his early career.

Shi gan (Time) - Ki-duk Kim

Kim Ki-Duk proves himself to be an expert at quickly shifting affective registers - comedy to melodrama to suspense - with compelling aggression. Certainly more dialogue-driven than his combined previous work, his figures here attack the film's corporeal conceit with often frightening gusto. A disturbing study of the central tension in any romantic relationship: the dangerous dialectic between the promise of novelty and the exhaustion of familiarity.