Sinners in the hands . . .

Das weiße Band: Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (The white ribbon)

Crit

. . . and if all that wasn't enough, then somebody shot Archduke Ferdinand. The latest from Michael Haneke (who has previously mindfucked me in a good way with La Pianiste [The piano teacher] and Caché and in a dreadful way with his U.S. remake of his own Funny Games) is a remarkable whodunit (and later, a wherewent'em) set in a little pre-Great War Austrian village whose seemingly innocent bucolic nature takes a severe Children of the Corn turn.

In the end you're left wondering . . . well, lots of things, but certainly not why the film is nominated for the foreign film Oscar (Caché got screwed out of a nomination on a technicality, as I recall). Having read too much about the film, I was looking ahead to it as a necessary ordeal, but while there is much that's hard to watch, it really is good old-fashioned moviemaking at its best.

Trailers

• Madeo (Mother)--Latest from Joon-ho Bong looks way intense.
• The Yellow Handkerchief--In the can since 2008, finally released to unhappy reviews.