Three to See

Film critics Cynthia Haines and Steve Walker discuss the latest in art, independent, foreign and documentary films playing in area theaters.

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Favorite Art, Independent and Foreign
Films of the Week

Cynthia Haines' Picks

Winter's Bone

Ondine

Mother and Child

Steve Walker's Picks

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Winter's Bone

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More from Steve Walker:

Ondine (PG13)

Director Neil Jordan ("The Crying Game") attempts to blend Irish mythology, drug crimes, and a disabled child and the results, while atmospheric, are three incompatible strains that ultimately dilute one another. But Colin Farrell reminds us he's quite a good actor, playing here a recovering alcoholic fisherman in a quaint Irish village who pulls in his net one morning to discover a barely breathing woman. The film keeps the audience guessing, but largely focuses on the possibility that she is a Selkie, a half-woman, half-seal creature that is a staple of Irish folk tales of the sea. Lovely to look at, but tough to completely sweep you away.